Life as a Logian
by animaniacj
Summary: A fisherman's life should be easy, right? Dad doesn't think so. What better present for turning 21 than Devil Fruit powers and a pirate crew?
1. Overpowering

**Overpowering:**

Most of my life had always been boring. Just having to live in a small fishing town on the relatively big island of Monju. Day in and day out, following in my father and grandfathers footsteps, I was a small income fisherman. That stopped being true when, on my 21st birthday, my dad splurged for my birthday gift. Mom knew nothing about it, if she did, she would probably have stopped my father the second she heard.

My father had stumbled across a Devil Fruit. He recognized it immediately from the fruit stand. He was amazed such a rare and expensive fruit was on display. He had never really told anyone, especially myself, but he used to be a pirate. During the time of Gol D. Roger, my father had had his bought of adventure fever. Many of his crewmates had become the lucky receivers of Devil Fruit powers; he never did though.

One day while on Monju Island, having some down time, he wandered through town and happened upon my mother, much the same way as this fruit. Such a rare beauty had to be plucked before anyone else could have it. Surprisingly, it worked about as well as getting the fruit did. Much haggling, charm, and eventual bribing were needed for both my mothers hand in marriage and this fruit. Thusly, only my mother and Grandfather knew my father used to be a pirate. I was completely in the dark, until that day.

Well, Grandpa, dad, and myself had just gotten home from one long day of fishing and were dead tired. Grandpa sat down in his usual padded armchair and immediately started to snore. Dad and I sat down at the table for a rest of our own, then dad suddenly got up and headed towards his bedroom. He came out shortly with his hands behind his back.

"Happy birthday, son." My dad said as he handed me the simple cube package. This was surprising because I was expecting some sort of intricate fishing equipment, maybe even my own boat, and neither of those presents could ever fit in a box like this.

"What is it?" I asked.

"You'll see once you open it you dunderhead, that's why it's a present." He said

I took the top off the box to see inside one of the strangest oranges I had ever seen. For one, oranges are supposed to be orange, not gray. Second, a healthy orange probably shouldn't have two growing on the same stem. Lastly, normal fruit don't have patterns like mist from a book doodled all over them.

"This is a joke, right? Please tell me this is the gag before the extravagant part."

"Nope, all of the birthday money I had for you and a little extra…"

I deadpanned a look at him

"Alright, A LOT of extra into that one gift." He was dead serious

I looked down at it again and picked it up, turned it around to examine it a little. I sniffed it to see whether it was fresh or not, and surprisingly didn't give the slightest sent. I looked up and saw my dad's eyes glistening; so as to not disappoint him I took a bite.

Bad choice as it turns out. First off, it tasted horrible, as in; having raw and burned fish guts being fed to you simultaneously bad. I didn't even know how that tasted, but take that by five and you might end up somewhere where this taste was.

Second, Mom dropped the groceries. I heard hers hit the ground about the exact same time mine did. Mom looked dumbfounded, confused, and finally angry. Oh so very angry. And yet, my dad was nearly squealing with delight. This was a very severe swap of personalities for my parents.

Lastly, my fruit didn't drop because my hand let go, it's because my hand stopped being there to hold the fruit. As it turned out my hands, feet, and abdominal section stopped having a form.

I will admit, I was scared pant less, quite literally as it would also seem. I always tried to be strong and hold those girly emotions like fear, depression, and hunger wait until I was alone, even from my family. That stopped instantaneously when I noticed parts of my body disappearing.

My dad seemed to finally snap out of his own fantasy world and noticed I was fading away. "OI! Pull yourself together son! Hey, Focus on ME!"

This got my attention. Even though he had to yell often, it had never been in a harsh tone before. I immediately paid attention, and to my relief, got my body back.

"Now listen very carefully Cymond, and listen closely. You have just become a Devil Fruit user."


	2. Family Secrets

**Family Secrets**:

"What do you mean Devi Fruit user!" My mom and I exclaimed at the same time. This entire racket had finally jarred Grandpa from his nap, and he did not like the scene in front of him.

" I mean exactly what I said. Cymond is now a Devil Fruit user, as in, he now has the power to manipulate something about himself or what's around him." My dad explained in a hurried yet calm manner.

Man, I just couldn't believe any of what he just said was true. I slumped back in my chair and tried to hold my head in hands. I say tried because, once again, my hands disappeared on me. I ended up just banging my head on the floor. That's right, the floor, even though between me and it were supposed to be a table, chair, and my own being, none of those things seemed to be there right at that moment.

"… And from the looks of it, it is either a Paramecian or Logian type." I heard my father finish up. ""Oi, Cymond, see if you can stand up, but try to focus more than normal, and try not to hit any thing." He said in his normal tone.

I rolled from underneath the table and focused hard on standing up. It worked, nothing disappeared and the world didn't drop away from me. My mom helped steady me as I got up. Once I told her I was fine, she let go and I relaxed.

I'm finding I am making a lot of mistakes today in the span of 2 minutes. The second I relaxed, my heels went missing and I feel backwards. Lucky me Grandpa is still such a healthy old man, he jumped out of his padded chair and whipped it around for me to land in. I am also lucky that I learn at a decent pace, because I focused hard on landing in that chair. Unfortunately, I focused a little to hard, and I ended up falling on and breaking Grandpas chair.

'That was weird' I thought 'I landed in Grandpa's chair like that a lot after a hard day, and it never broke once.'

"Sorry Grandpa." Was all I could say. Looking at dad I said "I think It would be smarter for me to just stay still while you explain why you would do something as crazy as feeding your kid a Devil Fruit, an unknown one at that, you don't even know what you gave me do you?"

"Well, it is true that I did give you one I didn't know would do, but there is a reason."

"This should be good." Mom, Grandpa, and myself said simultaneously.

Mom and Grandpa were sitting on the couch with me sitting in front of them, not leaning on anything in fear of falling through it, while my father had his chair to be in front of us. He started with one very weird question.

"Cymond, how much do you know about how I and your mother met?"

"Easy, you had come from the other side of the island to find some better equipment for fishing and found mom at her stall." They had drilled this into me with years of their happy little meeting.

"Uh hu, and how did get to marry her?"

"Easy again" this was getting annoying "you had to convince Grandpa you were a good enough fisherman to provide for her, and him when he grew to old."

"Very good, you've listened to the stories well, now there a few tweaks to be made to the stories for it to be the actual truth." This peaked my interest 'I was being lied to on how my on parents met? By them?'

"In the first part, replace island with ocean and fishing with treasure hunting, what do you get?"

Alright, I was getting tired of him making me say it, "Would you just spill it already!"

My dad sighed "Very well. Son, I was pirate before I met your mother."

That cooled me down for a second before it shot straight back up, but my mother put her hand on my shoulder before I could say anything. I looked at her, angry and confused, and saw only a sad, comforting look that cooled my head again. This would be so much easier if they were only telling me that I was adopted.

My dad continued. "As a pirate, I did some things that I am not proud to say I did, but let me say this to you now Cymond, I never killed outright. I have killed only for my captain or self-defense. I am much like I am now as I was back then. But this isn't about then, it's about now."

With that he picked up the Devil Fruit that had my singular bite in it. "When I saw this today, I knew what it was and wanted it immediately. After I had gotten it though, I rationalized that I wouldn't be able to utilize it. And that is when I thought of you."

He looked up at me and shyly smiled, and that was kinda creepy to see. "You remind me now so strongly of myself when I went onto the sea. So as a special gift, I wanted you to have a life."

"But I have a life!" I exclaimed "I have a life here with you, mom, and Grandpa!" I wanted to stand up, but I knew such an action would cause yet another mess, so I settled with just glaring at dad.

He sighed "No you don't son, you have a job. Fishing is what I proved to your grandfather to convince him I was good enough for his daughter, but it just isn't right for you. Like just today when we came home, your grandfather and I came home tired and happy, but you only came home tired. If had seen any satisfaction in your eyes, I probably wouldn't have given you this." He tossed me the fruit. I actually caught it and was able to hold it. This made my dad smirk. "See? You're already getting used to your new powers."


	3. Learning a New Feild

**Learning a New Field:**

As my dad pointed out, I was getting used to my new powers, even if it was just learning how to function in every day life again. My mom and Grandpa had agreed with dad's reasoning for doing what he did. They to had been worrying about my recent lack of energy. Luckily, my family worked for themselves, so we didn't have a boss to explain to why I wasn't working recently. My family trusted me enough that I wouldn't destroy the house while they were all out working, giving me time to learn exactly what I was now.

My first stop was the town library. Granted, I had never been there much before and was only a decent when it came to reading, but I thought I would give it a shot. Oh how out classed I was. I walked in there expecting to find a small hovel with an assortment of odds and ends books the town didn't want anymore. Oh so wrong was I. This place was pristine, so much so that I gawked at the entrance of the place. It was so neat and clean I could have sworn I had gone to a completely different island. I looked behind me just to make sure I was on the same island. Thankfully I was.

"Can I help you with something?" said a polite voice behind me asked. I turned around to find a man approximately my height at 6' tall in very nice clothing, much richer than what I was. He had short brown hair with the strangest color of sea green eyes I had ever seen. I suddenly felt underdressed.

"Umm, yeah, actually there is, could I find a book here on known Devil Fruits?" I asked

The librarian, at least I hope he was, looked a bit shocked before composing himself, "And my I inquire why a fisherman would want to know about Devil Fruit?"

Crap "Uh, well, my mom bought this new weird fruit that my Grandpa swears is a Devil Fruit, so came here to see if it were true." Oh lord, I do not know where I pulled that out from.

"Uh hu, well there just happens to be one on the shelf to your left there."

"Oh, really? Thanks." I turned my back to him to get it when I noticed two things. One was that the blinds were closed, that wouldn't be so strange if it weren't for the second part.

Books scattered on the floor with an unconscious, bound, and gagged old man right there.

That's when I heard the click right behind my head. "Oh, I'm sorry, _sir,_ but I seem to have it right here." I turned my head just enough to see him smirking with the gun in his right hand and a book in his left.

You can't fool me kid, I know Bucky sent you to get the book from his informant before I could get it, but to late. Now, unfortunately for you, I'm going to have to make you 'forget' that I was here."

At that moment he swung the butt of the gun at my head. I squeezed my eyes shut hoping it wouldn't hurt, but hoping harder it would miss.

I guess wishing helps a little when you have a Devil Fruit power, having no idea how to use it. I herd a 'Whoosh' and the chill of metal and the warmth of a human pass through where the back of my head should have been. The man was obviously surprised on what just happened, giving me enough time to turn around and sock him with a right hook across his face. He passed right out.

Well, coming to the library hadn't been a complete waste. I learned that I could become immaterial when I want to, and become as hard as I want to when I want to. Just for safe measure though, I took the book and pistol from the man and tied him up with the rope that was around the old man. I left them there in the library because I didn't want to be part of anything between my assaulter and the librarian.

When I got home, I flopped onto the couch. I learned within the first half an hour how to keep my form in the steady state from before I ate the Devil Fruit. I flipped over and looked at the book the man with the gun (Gunny for now) had been brandishing. On the front there was faded gold lettering. I could barley make it out, and even then read it, but it read "_The Devils Fruits and Their Curses_". 'Cool title.' I thought to myself. I was happy to find in the index that you could find what you wanted by shape, color, swirl pattern, and region the fruit was found in. "Well, I guess I will go with the basic information." I said to no one.

I would never guess how many fruits there were in the entire book. I mean it is a fairly thick book, but it gave about a third of a page for each fruit. I'm just glad my fruit was relatively close to the beginning of the gray section. And here is what I found…

_Carbon-Carbon Fruit_

_Type: Logia_

_It is said that this fruit is one of the rarest, as for the possessor of the fruit has the power to control the molecular atom of carbon. The wielder can manipulate any object that has carbon within it as long as they can make a direct connection to that item. Along with the standard abilities of all Logia-type fruit users ability to become their element, the Carbon-Carbon wielder cannot only expand with their element, but also contract, able to become tougher than diamonds._

"Wow, dad, you hit me the jackpot." I said "Now lets see if this books general knowledge of these powers can help me out a little."


	4. Fisherman in a Big Ocean

**Fisherman in a Big Ocean:**

When the rest of my family came back from work that day and saw me on the couch with "_The Devils Fruits and Their Curses_" in my hands, they looked both relived and worried. As it turns out, Mr. Davis the Librarian had been knocked unconscious and an unknown man had been tied up right next to him. And Since I had said I was going to the library that morning they had been fretting all day.

"Well, how are Mr. Davis and Mr. Gunny doing then?" I inquired as mom prepared our usual dinner of fish.

"Mr. Davis is fine, but who is Mr. Gunny?" my dad asked. He was trying to somehow salvage Grandpa's chair. While Grandpa was lightly snoring on the couch

"Oh, that's what I nicknamed that other man who tried to knock me out with the gun." I said nonchalantly.

Mom and dad both stopped what they were doing and said at the same time "WHAT!"

Should have expected that. I then told them to settle down while I explained what I had done that day. By the time I was finished, mom was already serving us for dinner.

"Well, that is one heck of a starting block for an adventure." My dad said. "I don't see what is such the big deal with that book." My mom commented. "Well, I'll tell you why," Grandpa started, making all of us turn, I hadn't thought that Grandpa was listening.

"That book tells you what kind of fruit your looking at before any funny business happens. Normally it's a shot in the dark on what happens to ya." We had all sat around the table now, each of us sitting around today's biggest catch, which we had always kept for the family. Grandpa took it upon himself to cut up the fish while continuing his speech.

"Now, if you were to go eat a Devil Fruit willy nilly, you might end up being able to do something no one wants to be able to do, like being able to blow different types of bubble, just like getting a tail of a fish for dinner." As he said this he cut off the tail and gave it to my mother. She didn't seem to be the least bit upset, she was to deep into her fathers explanation.

"Or you could be cautious and make someone else eat it and see what happens then, but then they might get an excellent power you wanted, like destroying anything you want with just a whim, but it's to late. Seeing as how only one Devil Fruit user of a fruit can exist at one point in time. This can be like having the head of the fish, wanting it or not is completely to the eater." At that, Grandpa chopped off the head and gave it to dad, who grimaced, but accepted it anyways.

"Then, there is that book, and that one in particular. That one is said to be the only full collection of Devil Fruits knowledge on the planet. There are others, but they are incomplete and horribly notated. With that book, the wielder would be able to pick and choose what they wanted, like being the carver of the families dinner." He smiled slyly as he cut the main body in half for each of us. Grandpa then sat down, done with his serving of dinner and explanation. And mom finally noticed what she got.

The rest of us got a good laugh out of it, then me and Grandpa split the rest fairly, because I knew I wasn't going to finish half of a 30-pound fish by myself.

Or so I thought. I ended up eating all of the leftovers from everyone else's plate's way after I had finished mine. My dad joked that maybe I had eaten the Munch-Munch fruit for all that I ate. I hadn't told anyone about my discovery of my fruit until I was sure that was exactly what I had.

Boy was I right in not telling anyone that I was a Logia type user. It started circulating that Mr. Gunny had come to steal a book on Devil Fruits, and everyone started making up strange and interesting fruit names and abilities. Most of all, the majority that I heard that people wanted was a Logia type power. And with "_The Devil Fruits and Their Curses_" under my vest, I went into the wood to practice using my powers.

Mostly it was just seeing what I could manipulate in and outside of me. As the book stated, not only was I able to disperse myself, I could actually compress myself to be so compact, I was 3 feet tall and left an inch foot print wherever I walked. I also started to notice that once I was alone and quite, I found a whole new world of animals, insects, and plants. Life in general was becoming a new experience. The thing is, with this new found way of sensing, I could tell someone was walking toward me well before they saw me.

To see if they were deliberately coming toward me or just the general direction, I felt my way down the path with my powers to move branches in their way. Then the branches weren't there anymore, on the limb at least. I was so shocked at how quickly they were cut down, I didn't realize I was in actual shock from the cuts until the man was right next to me.

He was so strange, he was shorter than me by at least two inches, but his very being there made me cower. He had sea green hair and a long scar over left eye. Another odd thing was, he carried three swords.

'Well, that just seems impractical' I thought "Can I help you?" I said

"Yeah, can you tell me which way is south?" The stranger said

'And stranger he still gets' "Sure, it's actually the way you were just coming to."

"Well, seems like I'm getting better at this whole 'navigating' thing." He muttered to himself. It's at this point I think the man is quite lost. I decide to be as friendly as I can to this guy, probably went to train in the woods after coming to port and got lost, so I say "You can actually come with me, I'm heading that way right now."

"Thanks, this always works out better when someone else is doing it."

"No problem, so why are you heading to a small town like mine? The town at the north side of the island would be a lot more exciting for a traveler."

"Actually, quiet is just what I need right now. I have been sailing for weeks with the same loudmouth bunch and I just needed to get away. Besides, big crowds really aren't my thing."

"Ah." We walked in silence for a while after that. I had to call him over to me about three times in the five-minute walk it took to get to the town. 'Man he has a horrible sense of direction.' When we entered town, he asked for directions to the library, of all places.

"Why would want to go there? Never mind, it's closed right now because the owner just had a hard time with a…uh…'customer' and they got into a fist fight." I didn't want to tell him my town's politics.

"Ah, so Gunny's already come and gone, huh."

"Naw, he's still in jail for the inceden… Wait a tick, how do you know Mr. Gunny?" This was getting to weird.

"Oh, didn't I mention it before? My names Roronoa Zoro, and I hunt pirates for some spare change."


	5. From No Go to Zoro

**From No Go to Zoro:**

I cracked up. I know it's not polite to laugh when someone introduces themselves, but that just sounded ridiculous. I stopped laughing just as suddenly as I began because I got the sudden feeling that this is not a guy to laugh at.

"I'm sorry, it's just that has never been a pirate in this town before," 'excluding my dad' "so the thought of hunting one just sounded ridiculous." I really hoped this worked to smooth that over.

"Alright, fine, I just find it hard to believe that there have never been ANY pirates in this entire town." Whew, dodged a bullet there.

"Well, that might be because everyone swings through the northern port that they just don't make it down here."

"Hm, that is a possibility."

"Anyways, It's getting dark, and seeing as how you just got here, you defiantly don't have a place to stay. So why not spend a night at my house, granted, I live with my mom, dad, and Grandpa. But there could defiantly be food and a bed there with no charge."

"Mmm, why not? Jail is probably closed right now, and I don't want to go through the hassle of breaking in and out."

'Breaking in and out would only be a hassle to him, Jesus!'

That settled it, I took him through the back roads so that no one would question a guy like him coming through. When we got to my home, the lights were already lit. 'Good' I thought 'I need someone sane to talk to right about now.'

We went in and found that my family wasn't the only ones home. A hyper active boy with a straw hat and a red vest was sitting at the table with stacks of plates next to him. 'I didn't even know we had that many plates' I stared in awe. I heard Grandpa crack up and I saw two of the weirdest things. A skeleton with an afro and a cane and a tiny reindeer on two feet were talking to Grandpa about medicine from 50 years ago and how it has changed, what was my family coming to?

I heard my mom give a little yelp from the kitchen, and I immediately went back there to check it out. I just couldn't believe it, a blonde guy in a suit smoking a cigarette was all over my mom, MY MOM! I wanted to walk right over and sock him a good one, but a woman with long flowing orange hair came in and pulled his ear so hard I could swear it would come off. I silently thanked that woman.

In all of this commotion, I hadn't seen or heard my dad, so began to cautiously look through the house. Thank god he was outside with a half human, half robot thing and a guy with this seemingly impossibly long nose, because before I saw anything, I felt the house shake. When I saw them, I also saw a small, very black hole in the backyard. The big guy seemed confused (probably on how what they were doing could have exploded) while my dad and the other guy were shouting that "All the darn chair needed was some GLUE!"

"Reckless aren't they?" said a woman right next to me.

"GAW!" was my only response before she was gone. Finally I shouted "ALRIGHT, EVERYONE, LIVING ROOM, NOW!" That seemed to get at least some order in the house. While everyone was filing in, Zoro came by my side and said "You remember how I said I needed some quiet?"

"Yeah…" oh please oh please don't go, you're the only sane one I know here anymore.

"These are the people I was talking about."

I nearly fainted "THESE are your crewmates?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yep, and I couldn't live a day without them."

Oh boy

"So, who wants to start on how _everyone_ ended up here." I started with how I had met Zoro lost in the forest and offered him a night stay.

"That is so like you, getting lost in the smallest of paper bags." Said the blonde.

"Alright," I said before anything got out of hand between Zoro and this guy "if you're so great tell me how you got here, and better not be that that you followed my mom." This got a snicker out of the group.

"Fine," he said a bit flustered "my name is Sanji, and I am the chef of this group. Thus, as chef, I was getting food for the crews meal tonight when I came upon your mothers stall." Oh god I can already see where this is leading. "I bought the best of the madams stock and was humbly complementing her on her ability to lift so much fish, when her husband came to pick her up so that she could make some guest an extra large helping of food. And since large portions are my specialty, I humbly offered my services."

A bit more subdued than I expected, but thanks to my translator of Zoro, he ogled my mother a bit to long and got caught by my dad. My dad helped to 'persuade' Sanji to buy a fish for however long he had been there, and then help cook for guests.

"Well, that explains that, but dad how did you get so many…uh…guests?"

As I found out, the 'cyborg' (whatever) was named Franky and the long nosed guy was Usopp. As it turned out, they were having an argument over how to get to the next island and how to modify the ship. When Franky suggested boosters for the ship, my dad's tinkering side kicked in and advised that they really shouldn't, because whatever way they were going would have major reefs, so he taught both of them how to make a boat 'skip' over small obstacles. After all of that, Usopp wanted some food, so dad invited them over for some dinner.

'Huh, I could have sworn it would have been for the straw hat kid.' "So Grandpa, how did you come across a living skeleton and a tiny reindeer?"

Brook and Chopper introduced themselves accordingly, and then recounted their tale.

"We were walking through town," Oh LORD! I wish I could have seen the town at that point! "looking for a medicine shop to restock Chopper's kits, but we weren't getting anywhere. Everyone we tried to talk to either ran in terror or fainted when we approached them. Then this gentleman was kind enough to take us to the medical store," Brook said grabbing my Grandpa's shoulder, "and then Chopper got hungry, and he led us here for some grub."

That sounded like the most rational one, if not for the characters being so eccentric. "Well, that just leaves you three, huh?" I said to the remaining women and rather bored kid. " So who wants to go first on why they are here?"

"I think I will go first," said the redhead "my name is Nami and I'm the crews navigator. We," as she motioned toward the bleaker looking woman "were actually out shopping for some new clothes when we got separated. I ended up in the market street. I almost turned around when I heard Sanji squeal…"

"I did not squeal!"

"When he squealed, and I went to help out, then I found out he was 'helping' and I decided to come along for his own safety, as well as your mothers." Nami finished. 'She is one of the sane ones!' I breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to the bleaker woman "And you are?..."

"My name is Robin, and as Nami said we were shopping when the crowd separated, and I actually followed the crowd and met up with Luffy."

"Luffy? I take that would be you?" Looking over at the kid who had perked up at the sound of his name. "Yep! That's me, Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm going to be king of the pirates!"

I just looked at him with both disbelief and aw. How could someone just say that in front of everyone you were traveling with? Unless…

"You all wouldn't happen to be pirates, would you?"

"Yeah" they all said like it was the most obvious thing on the planet.

"We're the Straw Hat Pirates!" Luffy said with a giant grin.


	6. Straw Hats Ahoy

**Straw Hats Ahoy:**

And the night went absolutely perfectly. My dad and Grandpa laughed like crazy while my mom and I chortled, and told my dad's story on he got to set his roots here. Talking of my dad reminded me of the Devil Fruit he had given me for my birthday, and I broached the question.

"So, do any of you have, um, Devil Fruit powers? I have heard from my dad that a lot of men on his crew had them." I found the small silence that followed a bit disturbing, until Brook spoke up, "Well, seeing as I'm a walking, talking, breathing skeleton, I have a power, but a little bit less of the breathing part." And he fell into a fit of chuckles, I just rolled my eyes and waited for him to continue.

"I have what is called the Yomi-Yomi fruit where, when I died, my soul came back to my body, and after a bit of training, was able to harness my soul's power." Huh, Yomi-Yomi, would have to look that one up.

"I have one too," piped up Chopper "I have what's called a Zoan type fruit where my physical structure is changed, and I ate the Hito-Hito fruit. I have actually mastered turning into more than just the three stages, in fact I have nine forms I can take." So that's what a Zoan user looks like, but wait…

"But Hito is Human, but your covered in fur, how does that make sense?"

"That's simple, I'm a reindeer to begin with." And with that shifted into one huge reindeer in the already crowded in room. Poor Grandpa and Brook being right behind him. "OOF! Chopper, back, turn back, your crushing the life out of me, not that it's there to crush, heh heh heh…"

Chopper changed back into his smaller form with a small "Sorry" and quite embarrassed. I think Robin jumped in right there to get the attention off Chopper. "I have the ability known as the Hana-Hana fruit, and it allows me to make any part of me appear wherever I want it to."

"Oh really, can I see?" I then felt a tap on my shoulder, which shouldn't be possible my back was against the wall. But I turn around anyways to see an arm sticking out of the wall. I fell down like I had just gotten my powers again. Now it was my turn to be embarrassed, I had asked for it after all.

Luffy then jumped in with "And I ate the Gomu-Gomu fruit, so now my entire body is made of rubber!" And to prove it, he hooked a finger in his mouth and pulled, and it stretched until he stopped his arm. I could see how he ate all of the food on all of those plates. He let it go with a loud "SMACK" that made me flinch. "Doesn't that hurt, stretching and smacking yourself?"

"Not in the least, the best part about it is that I don't feel any pain from most normal physical hits, which includes my stretching."

"Man, you all have awesome powers, but what about the rest of you, what lets you keep up with powers like that?"

"That's easy," Sanji answered "for one, the rest of can swim, even Franky, and two, we can hold our own in any fight that comes our way."

"Awesome, now a little about me," I glanced at mom, dad, and Grandpa, all of whom gave a nod "I have what's called the Carbon-Carbon fruit, and I am still trying to figure out what I can do."

"Say, doesn't that sound a lot like what a Logia fruit would be called?" Usopp spoke up for the first time. "So doesn't that mean you can become, you know, carbon?"

"That is totally AWESOME!" Franky exclaimed, and I gave him the "There-are-neighbors-here" look and he looked down, but only a little bit. "I still find that to be pretty cool." He said downcastedly.

"But that sounds completely overpowered," Nami said "if he has the power to control carbon, that means he can pretty much control life."

"And to tell the truth can be very destructive," said Chopper "Carbon Monoxide and Hydrocarbons just for two, which are poisonous and flammable respectively."

" It also means he can live for near eternity." Said Robin

"What do you mean 'live forever'?" I started to feel a bit excited learning all of theses basics of carbon. But that last one started to scare me. If I live forever, I would continuously lose friends over and over again. I hoped what was coming wasn't.

"If carbon takes around five and a half thousand years to decrease by half, you could be on this planet for a good quarter of a million years."

This revelation from Robin wasn't allowed to sink in very far because the next morning was just about as hectic as last night. Luffy was eating everything Sanji made as soon as it came off the stove. Nami and Robin were talking to mom about the best places to shop around town.

Grandpa was talking with Brook about some ancient musical number while Chopper was packing up his medicine kit. Zoro was still asleep, even though it was 10 AM, so I went to see what dad, Franky, and Usopp were up to. They were around the black mark from yesterday, getting dimensions for some reason.

When Franky looked up and saw me, he brightened up immediately. "Hey kid, come over here and see if you can help out." I had no idea what to expect so I cautiously walked over. Turns out I needn't have worried.

"So kid, here's the plan…"

"Look, "I cut him off "I know you haven't known me long, but my name is Cymond, could you please remember it?"

"Sure ki… uh Cymond, look we just had a plan on remaking your Granddad's chair, but we cant really run off memory, so we were wondering if your power could help."

'Odd use of such a seeming limitless power' "Alright, just give me a sec to concentrate." I sat down and focused on the black spot, then separating what was coated on the ground and in the ground. I then mentally set up the chair and compacted it so it would still be there when I opened my eyes. But when I did I saw something amazing.

Besides the chair being a bit smaller due to compaction and blacker due to exploding, it looked exactly like it did before I smashed it. Every scratch was still there, and I even tested its sturdiness, exactly the same! It's like I had just reversed time a little. I called Robin over and asked her to do a little favor, she agreed nearly immediately.


	7. On with the Jailbreak

**On with the Jailbreak:**

One second he's talking with Brook, the next, he can't see a thing, and Grandpa could tell they were a females hands. He then felt two thumps, one wither side of him, and a little feeling around, he could find it was his daughter and son-in-law. "What's going on, ummm, Robin?"

"Oh, good guess." Came her smooth voice not to far away. "Actually, Cymond asked me to do this." And with that, she let the hands come away from his eyes, and he saw his favorite chair. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, he could have sworn that Franky had blown it up yesterday. Then Grandpa realized that it was a lot darker and a bit smaller.

"Who did this?" he asked in aw.

"I did." I said as I walked in. I could see how surprised my parents were about the restored chair, but what really got me was Grandpa tearing up. "Aw, geez, Gramps, I never thought it was that important to you."

"You have no idea, this is one of the last things your grandmother made before she passed." Wow, I never knew that Grandma still meant that much to him. The least I could do was put its cushions back on it and turn it to Grandpa. "Here ya go Grandpa." Was all I could say.

At around noon when Zoro finally woke up, I gave him a few minutes before talking to him about Gunny (funny how that turned out to be his real name).

"So Zoro, I remember you saying you were pirate hunting Gunny. Does someone from up north have a beef with him? Seeing as you are a pirate and all, I don't think the Marines would pay you if you just walked up with him."

"Hm? Oh, yeah, that. See, I was, uh, 'wandering' through the town, up north was it? And saw some local guy by the name of Bucky offering some 300,000 Beli for bringing in Gunny to him, no questions asked, so I thought 'Why not?'" Man, I still need to get used to how simply they all think the world works.

"And so you followed him? And that's how you knew he was going to be at the library?" This seemed like the logical way to bounty hunt.

Oh how little I know. "Naw, I just went to the nearest bar until slipped Gunny's name, and then I got where he was out of him." Of course, no actual work for Zoro, just beat the information out of the other guys. I'm actually starting to wonder how they ever got to Monju Island in the first place. I had always heard from travelers who did come through town that we were a difficult island to get to. Apparently Monju Island was on the 'hard' route of which people said was part of the 'Grand Line'. But this was just a normal island after all.

"So, are you still going to break Gunny out of jail just for the money?" Again, I should really stop talking, because as soon as I said that…

"Did I hear someone say money?" asked Nami, popping up behind us. "Uh, yeah, there's a guy in jail for causing a commotion at the library and apparently has some money on his head in the town just north of here." I told her.

"Huh, so that's where you disappeared to yesterday Zoro. Who knew _you_ could actually find anywhere on purpose. So, what are still doing here? Go get the guy and the money."

"I was just about to, there's no need to rush me." Zoro said standing up. "Wait wait wait, you can't just waltz into the jail and take who you please." I said startled.

"Watch me." And with that Zoro walked out of the house. "Ugh, I might as well go with him, otherwise he'll never find the jail." And then I got up to follow him.


	8. Walk In, Walk Out

**Walk In, Walk Out:**

I was surprised when Nami followed me out of the house after Zoro.

"And why are you coming?"

"Well, I can't let an opportunity for money like this just slip by, can I?"

"Ok, I get that," As I craned my neck to see Sanji following both of us. "but what would your reason, pray tell?"

Sanji gave me an indigent look, "Why, I can't let my beautiful Nami go to a dangerous place like a jail without a gentleman like me to help."

Nami leaned in close and whispered "Just let him come along, it won't hurt anything." I sighed, doing this in the first place seemed dangerous, and now I had a woman and a womanizer coming along. "Fine, if you say so."

We quickly caught up to Zoro as he was just about to head in the opposite direction of the jail. I tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around. "The jail's that way." I said as I pointed. "I knew that." He mumbled, and looked behind me and grunted.

Well, if wasn't complaining that they were coming, I guess I shouldn't either.

After about 10 minutes of navigating the city, we arrived at the jail. It wasn't anything impressive, just a single story building with five cells. The town never really had any serious crimes, mostly just thievery, and that was solved when they paid up for what they stole or someone else did. Currently, there were two people in jail, one was Gunny, and the other was a scraggly looking kid who had stolen a basket of fish.

"Well, this is going to be a lot easier than I was expecting." Zoro said as we walked into the front office.

"What was that now son?" said the old officer who was on desk duty, "Are ya here to pick up the boy, 'cause if ya are, that'll be 100 beli."

"Actually, I'm here to pick up the other guy." Zoro said bluntly

"I'm afraid I can't release that one son. He's actually supposed to be transferred up north where the court of the island is."

"WHAT!" I heard Gunny exclaim from the back. "I didn't hear nothing bout that. I would rather be judged by the locals than go back there!"

Nami stepped out in front of me and walked up to the officer. "Well, you see sir, we're the escorts to the north actually."

"OH! In that case I'll go get him then." The cop said as he got up with his key ring and went into the cell area. I was glad Nami came with us after all. I heard a click and looked down. Apparently Zoro had had his sword prepped for use, and now I see why Nami had stepped foreword.

"Zoro," I hissed "you can't just cut down everyone who gets in your way!"

"I wasn't going to cut him down, only knock him out."

"Still! It would cause a huge commotion if someone else were to come in and see an unconscious officer and four people standing around him."

And as if the world wanted to screw with me just then, two burly men walked in. They didn't look like the type to mess with. As they glanced around and saw the officer coming back with Gunny with his hands cuffed behind him, they looked in confusion as one said "How did you know we were coming?"

"Oh! Are you two here for the kid? If you are, that'll be 100 beli." The old man said.

"No, we're here for him." Said the second one pointing at Gunny. Gunny went pale and the old man had a turn at being confused. "Ya can't be, because they're here to pick him up." As he waved in our direction.

"All right, this is the time to draw those." I whispered over to Zoro. "Ya don't say." Was all his response was before he was off.

I barley saw any of what actually happened. Zoro had gotten under the first guy, drew his sword, and while doing so, knocked the guy right in the chin, sending him backwards. The second guy turned toward Zoro and had his fist raised to slam him, but that didn't happen. Zoro had used the first guys falling backward as a stepping stone to get above the second man and hit him in the back of the head with the back of the sword.

This all happened in maybe five seconds. I then realized that the officer would defiantly have a say in this, so I whipped around to confront him, and it seems I didn't have to have worried. The officer was already unconscious in his chair where Nami was lying him down while Sanji had Gunny on his knees. Note to self: do NOT piss these people off. I can see how they had gotten here now. Personally, I preferred their jolly nature from last night to this serious atmosphere.

"Well, seeing as everything is taken care of here, shall we head north?" I proposed "Without getting lost." I added, glancing over at Zoro.

"I guess we might as well get out of here and get that money." Nami said as she picked up Gunny. He tried to struggle to get free for a second before he noticed me.

"YOU! I knew you were in on this! I knew you were going to get me killed! I knew…"

I then proceeded to slap him silly. I stopped when his cheeks were to swollen for him to talk anymore. I then looked him straight in the eye.

"Look buddy, I have _no_ idea what you're wanted for, and personally, I don't care. All I was doing was looking for a book and you had to draw a gun on me. This is all your fault and you need to deal with it." I turned to Nami "I got this."

This is where I really decided to freak the guy out and get some practice with my powers at the same time. I bent down to the stone floor and manipulated its structure so that it was malleable enough to be used as a rope supplement. Taking that, I bound his legs together and gagged him. I then threw him over my shoulder and started to walk out of the jailhouse.

"You guys coming or what?" I said over my shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah. We're coming." Zoro said back


	9. My Crew Starts

**My Crew Starts:**

"HEY! Hold on a second guys!" I heard shouted out from the back. It sounded strangely familiar. So I turned around and set Gunny down next to the counter and went into the back. There I found the scraggly looking kid, and upon closer inspection he was wearing a red vest and a straw hat.

"Oh come on, you can't be serious." I groaned as the beaming face of the kid looked up at me. "What are you doing here Luffy?"

"Well, was eating some fish off a table, and the next thing I know I'm in here."

I kneaded my head, "And were you, by chance, eating fish off another table yesterday as well?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" He said with genuine surprise.

"Because of Robin's explanation of how she ran into you yesterday, the crowd was gathering to see your scuffle with the cops, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. Wow you're good, but mind getting me out of here first?"

"I guess, in fact…" and at that I tried something new with my powers. I placed my hand over the lock and closed my eyes. I might not be able to manipulate metal all that well, but I could adjust to a mechanism. I deconstructed my hand enough so that it would fit into the keyhole exactly like its key would. I solidified my hand in that position and turned my arm. I heard the click and pulled my hand, and with it came the door.

"That's awesome! Can you show me how to do that?" Luffy said as he stepped out of his cell. "I don't think so, it's kinda part of my 'specialty'." I said as I shook my hand free of the door. "Oh." He said, looking kind of depressed. How bipolar was this kid?

"What's taking so long?" I heard Sanji yell from up front. "I'm just breaking your captain out of jail?" I called back, and we moved to the front desk.

"What are you doing back there Luffy?" Nami said concerned.

"He was back there for eating 100 beli worth of fish." I replied before Luffy could get a word in.

"What in the world were you thinking?" Nami exclaimed, "We don't have that kind of money!"

"Well of course we do, we just hit up three ship wrecks on the way here. We have plenty of money." Luffy replied with a look of confusion.

"No Luffy, we have plenty of _gold._ We don't have any _beli._ Ugh, whatever. Come on, we're about to turn a guy in for money anyways."

"Well, it's better than staying here all day." I said as I walked back, picked up Gunny and proceeded out the door again. "So for the last time, are we going or not?"

"Yes, let's _all_ go before Luffy ends up in jail again." Nami said while walking ahead of me.

Well great, for my first excursion up north, I was holding a wanted man, followed by what were probably wanted people. And to think I was a normal fisherman not even two weeks ago.

We finally made it up to the northern town with no help at all from Luffy or Zoro. Seems as though their directionality was doubly lost with both of them there. I finally came to learn that the northern town was called Ujnom Town. "Original, flip the island name around, the founder's must have been _brilliant._"

"You think, I would have never figured it out." Luffy said.

"Luffy, I bet you don't even know what this islands name is." I said back to him.

"You know, you're right! Are you sure that your Devil Fruit didn't give you tele-, tele-, whatever powers?"

"It's telepathic, and I am sure it didn't." I said, finishing the discussion right there. I turned to Zoro, "Honestly, how do you deal with this kid as your boss?"

"Easy, only listen to the parts of his rants that interest me and block out all the rest."

"Great, so, where are we going again?"

"The bar where I found the wanted poster of course."

"And that is where exactly, I'm getting tired of carrying Gunny everywhere."

"To be honest, I have no idea."

Perfect, just perfect. I was lugging around dead weight then. Then again…

"Hey Sanji, can you find the nearest bar?" It was a long shot it would be the one we were looking for, but it was a start.

"And what makes you think that I could or would do that, exactly?"

I shot a pleading glance over at Nami. "Oh Sanji," she called "can you find me the nearest bar, I'm oh so thirsty." She feigned her hand to her head and gave me a wink.

"Why of course! Anything for you Madame Nami!" And off he went. Easiest way to manipulate a womanizer was with a woman after all.

He soon called Nami over about half a block down, and wouldn't you know it, Gunny's wanted poster was outside. Mark one for Sanji being one lucky bastard. We marched right in, right into the center of a ring of the nastiest, cutthroats I had ever seen. Might not want to rank that to high, they were the first group of cutthroats I _had_ seen, ever.

"Well, well, well. What have we got here? It seems to be one of my old mates, Gunny!" Said one weird looking dude, he had blue spiky hair, no shirt, and some of the baggiest pants I had ever seen, and I have seen baggy pants. He hopped down from his table he had been sitting on and walked over to us. But before he could get to close, Nami stepped in.

"Uh uh buster. You want him back; you better pay for his bounty first. What was it again Zoro?"

"Um, 30,000 beli is what it said."

"Right, so 30,000 beli first, and then we're off."

"Fine." Said the guy, and he raised his arm and a case came toward him. I looked to see who tossed it, but I didn't see any body who was in a position of an after toss. Man they must be quick.

"Here's your money, Hunter. Now hand over Gunny."

"You heard him, Cymond, hand him over, all the money is here."

"Alright." I said. So I set Gunny down and undid my personal 'ropes', which quickly dissolved to dust. That also undid Gunny's gag. And the most unexpected thing was happening the whole time, he was crying. I mean, we were turning him in for a bounty, but usually you don't cry over that.

I then heard a bang from upstairs accompanied by a woman shouting "Gunny's back?" The blue haired man sneered. "Was anyone looking after her room?" he yelled. His entire crew looked confused, and so were we, why lock away your own crew?

"GUNNY!" I heard her louder this time. I looked up and saw a tall, black curly haired woman leaning over the banister. Then, she sprouted feathers and jumped over the banister.

This was crazy, people don't sprout feathers like that and fly, that's just impossible. _Unless they were a Zoan user._ All right, this was officially turning interesting for me.

Nami and the others were already leaving, when Zoro looked back and saw me just standing behind Gunny. "You coming dude?"

"Go on without me, I wanna see how this turns out." Was all I said without turning around. I did not want to miss one second of this.

"Fine, we're going to head home then." He said, and went to catch up with the other three.


	10. A Barfight With Love

**A Bar Fight With Love:**

As it turns out, it paid off to stay. Things were just getting juicy between Gunny, the woman, and the blue haired man.

"Gunny, what happened? I thought you had gotten away from all of this." Said the woman.

"Oh Marci, I was getting away, but then this guy got me."

"Whoa, whoa, you were the one who tried to pistol whip me when all I asked for was a book."

"Book? What book?" Said the blue haired man. Better keep this as in control as I could.

"I don't see what I want with a book has anything to do with you, Bucky."

"How do you know my name?"

Well how about that, the man I had just hunted for was the man I was accused of working for in the first place, how wonderful.

"So, wait, you don't know Bucky?" asked Gunny.

"Nope, just met him as I brought you in."

"ANYways, you got you money buster, so move along."

"I don't know, what's going on here seems pretty interesting, I might just buy a beer and watch." In all, I was interested in Gunny's reasons for being wanted by wacko.

"Fine, pull up a seat, we're only going to be executing a traitor anyways."

"No you're not!" said the woman, Marci I guess, standing up and gaining talons on her hands and easily sliced through the rickety cuffs on Gunny. I just pulled up a seat as I saw the two stand back to back against the rest of the crew.

"Well, I guess a marksman can't make all that great of a thief, especially when he can't even leave the island from where he stole from" Bucky said tauntingly as he circled the two. "And you two lovebirds actually thought I wouldn't miss the only copy of _Devil Fruits and their Curses_ missing from my quarters? What could possibly be so important in that book that you didn't even want your own Captain to know about? Hmm?"

"Probably the part where, if you can read, where you figure out how to manipulate your powers beyond what you have." I said, taking a sip of my beer the bartender had just served me.

"Oh really, and how would you know?"

"Because I have it right here on the page, see?"

Bucky whipped around fast enough that my waiting fist didn't have to move. He knocked himself right down. I had gotten so used to flexing my body shape, it took me a second to realize that everyone was gawking at my fist, myself, and the trail of fine ash connecting the two.

"I mean, honestly," I said as I finished my drink and retracted my fist "I haven't even known you for five minutes and I already hate you. Personally, I side with these two for wanting to leave."

"Oh-ho, I don't think you quite know who you're dealing with, kid." Bucky said as he got himself up.

"Oh yeah? And who exactly am I messing with then?"

"You're messing with Bucky, the eater of the Vac-Vac Fruit!" And with that, he pointed both of his arms at me and a huge suction force started dragging me in. Lucky for me, I had learned how to make myself denser, thus heavier early on, so I wasn't moving anywhere, the same could not be said for Gunny and Marci. They flew by me so fast; I barely caught them by their waists.

"So, I guess his ability is causing vacuums, isn't it!" I yelled over the suction.

"How did you _ever_ guess?" Gunny yelled back, still somehow getting that sarcasm across.

"Well, we can't just stay anchored here forever!" Yelled Marci, "Here Gunny, a rock!"

"Oh great! What can a rock…"

Gunny chucked the rock enough so that it caught in the vacuum and popped out, smacking Bucky right in the middle of the forehead.

"…do. That much apparently." Because, due to that rock, it knocked Bucky right unconscious and stopped everything he was doing in the process. "And how exactly did you make that shot? I don't even think Usopp could have done that."

"Well, I don't know who Usopp is, but he hasn't eaten the Mark-Mark Fruit."

Oh great, another one. "Let me guess, you can hit whatever you want, whenever you want?"

"Well, not quite. I can hit what I want with a varied effectiveness of the projectile, but only as long as I can see them."

"If that's so, how did you miss me?" I mocked.

"One, I was hitting, not throwing the gun. Second, you were freaking intangible!"

"Yeah, that reminds me, how were you not sucked in by Bucky's vacuum?" Marci asked.

"Talk about that later, first piece of business is knocking this group out and staling everything they own."

"LIKE WE"LL LET YOU!" I heard a unanimous roar from around the bar. The ensuing fight didn't last long. Everyone just hurt themselves or broke their swords when they went after me, followed up by a punch to the face. Going after Marci left them getting torn a new one, god she was flexible. And going after Gunny left them all unconscious because he just picked up whatever had been shattered by me and chucked it at the next guy coming. Little to say, the three of us left there about 2 million beli richer and not a scratch to show for it.

"Well, thanks for the help pall. Now we can buy a ship and get out of here."

"Uh, you do know where you are, right?" I asked. Like I said before, Monju Island was supposedly on a 'hard' route of the Grand Line.

"Duh, we're back in East Blue. How else could it have been so easy to get here?"

Easy? "By any chance, did you see some weird characters when you landed, say like a walking skeleton or little fury man?"

"Yeah, but how do you know about them? Have you met them?"

"Oh yeah I've met them. Do you remember the four guys who were with me when I brought you in?"

"Yeah, what about them?"

"They are the leading members of a pirate crew. Um, Straw Flag… Silk hats…"

"The Straw Hat Pirates?" Marci offered.

"Yeah, them. Well, those strange people are also a part of the crew, and I think you might have come in behind them."

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, they are the kind of people to put down anything that would come their way, including weather I would presume."

"So, what's that got to do with us being in East Blue?"

"It means you're not in East Blue, you're still in the Grand Line."

"Oh." Was all I got out of them, and by this time we had already walked all the way back to my town.

"Well, I guess we'll spend some of this money to buy a few nights at an Inn and see what we can do from there. Thanks for all of your help kid, you helped Marci and I out of quite a jam there. You know, I never did get your name."

"Names Cymond, and your not spending a single beli on a room, your coming to my place."

"But, but, but I tried to knock you out, and you even turned me in for a bounty!"

"Yeah, and? I think you two are some of the best people I have met on this island, and you two are coming with me, whether you like it or not."

"Well Gunny, there's no need to turn down a free bed." Marci said as she grabbed Gunny's hand.

"I guess your right Marci. Lead away Cymond."


	11. A Kidnapping and Suicide Plan

**A Kidnapping and Suicide Plan:**

As I showed Gunny and Marci the way to my home, I inquired as to how they had come to their pirate crew and powers. As it turns out, they had met in that pirate crew. Gunny wanted to leave his drunken father and Marci wanted a wilder life than her high and mighty mother was letting her have. So when the crew had stopped at each of their islands, they took the first chance they could take to join. Gunny had hopped aboard, as it was the first one to stop by when he wanted to run, and funnily enough, the crew was raiding Marci's house when Gunny found her trying to run from her guards. He knocked them out with the stones from the rock garden of all places and took her aboard. They had been together since then.

"Wow, that's waaay better than my story." I said.

"What is your story, by the way?" Gunny asked, "All I know is that you had your powers and came looking for some answers."

"In all honesty, that is my story. Just recently was my 21st birthday, and my dad decided to give me a Devil Fruit for my present."

"Wow, that has to be the luckiest way to get it ever." Marci laughed. "We both had to fight over ours."

"Really? How so?"

"Well, you see," Gunny explained, "whenever we did come across a Devil Fruit, everyone who had been on the raid it was found in fought for it in a free for all right after, and whoever won got to decide who got to have it, and if you already had a power you couldn't participate."

"Wow, sounds rough, so it was a total roulette on what powers the fruit you guys found would be?"

"Well, mostly. We had multitudes of different Devil Fruit books, but they usually contradicted each other on what was what." Mari continued. "When one book was right for one fruit, it was wrong for another. When I was expecting to get the Mera-Mera Fruit, I instead got the Tori-Tori Hawk model instead."

"So that's why Bucky was looking for this book in particular, he wanted the right odds for his crew. Well, that doesn't seem so bad."

"That would be," Gunny said, "If it was for the crew as a whole. But it was widely known amongst all of us that Bucky had a select group as his personal favorites. And that's why they didn't have any powers, because if they had gotten anything less than perfect for them, they would be out."

"Well, that is all very interesting, and we can discuss it latter, because right now, we have chaos to walk into." I said as we came across my house. I opened the door expecting a ruckus, but all I did find was silence. Nobody was there, not even my parents.

"Heloooo? Is anybody home?" I called into the house, but nobody answered. It wasn't all that late, it was late enough for mom, dad, and Grandpa to be off of work, but not late enough for any of them to have gone to bed yet. Something was wrong. The Straw Hats could take care of themselves, but my family probably couldn't.

"Is something wrong?" Marci asked.

"There sure is." Said Gunny as he walked into my house and picked a note off the table, being held down by knifepoint. "It's from Bucky." He said, "It looks like he's taken your family for what you did, and he's demanding all of his money, and all of yours plus the book." He read off.

"Well, if he wants us back so badly, I think we oblige him, now don't we." I said with a sly grin.

In all honesty, I had no idea what I was doing.

…

We made our trek back to Ujnom town, but when we got to the outskirts, we stopped. I turned to the two of them, "All right, so I'm guessing that you two _don't_ want to go back to Bucky's crew. Seeing as how he seems to be a backstabber to his own crew, will you help me get my family back?"

"Sure," Mari replied, "we'll help as much as we can. But in return, you help us get totally out of here, off this island and away from Bucky."

"You got yourself a deal. Now, for our rescue plan, I need to know entirely what you two can do."

Mari started first. "Well, as a Zoan user, I can fully turn into a falcon and become a cross in between. I have also honed it to where I can hollow out my bones and become as agile as I need to be. Beyond that, I can materialize my claws on both hands and feet, but that's about it."

"Ok, good to know. What about you Gunny."

"Well, um, my Shashu-Shachu allows me to hit what ever I want with whatever object I throw, but the object decides how much I can do. A sturdy stick has a different effect than a bullet. It also allows me to hit my target wherever I want on them, given that I can see at least a part of them."

"All right, excellent, now then, shall we move onto our stealthy assessment of our enemy's base? First, starting with a basic layout and crew silencing. You two take out the crew by Gunny knocking them unconscious with, um, a sizable enough rock I guess. Then Marci, you move in to move the body. I'll use my power's to snoop out the inside."

We all agreed and moved off. It was laughable on how easy it was to get in. Even by the time I had gotten to the tavern wall, Gunny and Marci had already taken out five people. This was another first, and I hoped it wasn't going to get me killed. I spread myself out so thin that my body slid easily enough through the boards. When I got through, I opened my eyes to find that I was actually in the back room with all of the bars provisions. Guess I had chosen far enough back, now I needed to find was a way to get upstairs and find my family, assuming they were being kept in the same place that Marci had been kept. The book said that most Logian users could usually use their element to fly, and that would have been so easy. But right now was a time for stealth, not experiments. The wall walk through was enough for now.

As I walked through the storeroom, I heard some rustling and muffled calling. I hoped to find them there and just fight my way out, but it was only the bartender I had seen last time. I ungagged him for him to actually breathe. When he was breathing normally I started questioning.

"Why are you tied up?"

"I've seen to much." He said heavily, still getting his breath back.

"To much of what?"

"Well, I was taking stock and came out when they were dragging two men and a woman in through the door. Now, we may accommodate pirates if they have the money, but there is no money in letting their activities be carried out here. And they knew that. Suddenly, I couldn't breathe, and when I woke up, I was bound and gagged here."

"Thanks a lot man, seriously. Look, once I kick these guys out of here, I'll come back for you, but right now, you staying here is the best option. I'll loosen your bonds, just in case they come back to kill you. Look, here's a knife to defend yourself with." And with that, I experimented a bit more. The book said that Logian users can make as much of their element as they wanted, and I knew diamonds were just hardened carbon, so I tried it. The knife was crude, but the blade was sharp and there was at least a place to hold it properly, so it would have to be enough.

"Thanks a bunch kid." As I got up to leave, he grabbed my pant leg. "If you want to find any sort of prisoner, you'll probably find them in the furthest back rooms."

"Thank you."

"No prob." And with that, he went back to looking like he was caught.

I had ruled it out earlier because I'm not yet skilled enough to recognize personal individuals with my carbon sensory, but I could at least make out individual bodies. So I walked over to the back wall and placed my hand on it and concentrated on it. I was able to feel the entire outline of the bar, and if the bartender said back, he would probably be meaning in back from the stairs. Sure enough, there were three bodies in the right room, two of which were banging on the door. Those must be dad and grandpa.

Weird enough, there were two on the left, both of whom were lying on the ground, but I couldn't get a reading on one of them. This was good enough for infiltration; I wanted to get back to Gunny and Marci to see how they were doing. I phased through the wall again and made my way back to where we split up.

Surprisingly enough, there were about 30 unconscious pirates sitting around a tree, each with a fair lump on their heads. I decided to try out making rope to tie them all down. It took multiple attempts until I found a density that was flexible enough to bend, but not break. When I had them all tied to the tree, Marci dropped in with another two and noticed me. She dropped them off and I tied them to the others.

We came back to were Gunny had been sniping his old crew down. After I told them what I had discovered, I told them my plan.

"Are you crazy?" Gunny hissed at me. "There's no way we can just storm the building! You have to remember that there are more Devil Fruit users in the crew than just Bucky, Marci, and me."

"But I'm confident in your abilities. The three of us can easily take on the rest of the crew. I mean, you guys have already taken out 32 of his crew. How many more can he possibly have?" I reasoned with him.

"You know, he is right Gunny." Marci defended. "And even though there are other users in there, none of them have figured out their powers as much as we have. I can tell you right now that six of the men we took out were users, and we took them out without a hitch."

Gunny sighed. "And you're going to go through with Cymond's plan, aren't you."

Marci nodded. Gunny got up and started walking towards the bars front entrance. "Well, if we're going to do this suicide mission, might as well get over now rather than latter."


	12. Suicidal Success

**Suicidal Success:**

Thanks to Gunny and Marci's handiwork, we didn't run into any of Bucky's crew until we were right at the front doors. Some of the crewmembers were standing guard, but they were all talking about how their crewmates seemed to step around the side of the building and didn't come back. I had to stop a smile from breaking out across my face, it had worked perfectly, no one suspected an ambush, much less by three people.

But now wasn't the time for celebrations, even small ones. One of the guards noticed me and pointed us out to the others. "One of you go and inform the captain that our 'guests' are here." The one who seemed to be leading them said.

"That won't be necessary guys. I'm pretty sure I can ring ourselves in." And with that I shot my arm out to envelope the five guards, pinning their arms and covering their mouths. I nodded to Gunny, who picked up a few pebbles from the street and shot each guard dead center of their temples. They all fell unconscious in my grasp, so I laid them down next to the door, leaving behind my special blend rope to secure them together.

As we continued our way, I could start to hear Bucky talking with his subordinates.

"… And what if they don't come with our money? That's everything we had to repair the ship with."

"They'll come. Did you see those people? There's no way he can just leave behind his parents, he's to soft."

I took this opportunity to interrupt. "Well, you have me coming right on. But as for the money and being soft, I think you're horribly mistaken."

"Well if it isn't our little thief and mutinying crewmates, welcome back." Bucky said as his subordinates got out of his way. "I'm guessing you're here to get your folks. So why don't you just hand over all of the money you stole from me, along with that book, and I'll happily let them go."

"Sorry Bucky, but I'm here to get my family whether you like it or not." I said, as I started moving towards the stairs. I soon felt myself being tugged away from the stairs, but it was slow going due to my sudden reaction of condensing myself. I looked over at Bucky, who had his hand facing palm first at me. He was obviously struggling to pull me over, so I decided to let myself revert back to normal and I flew right into him.

He realized what I was doing a split second to late. By the time he stopped his power, I was already coming at him at full speed. Lucky for him, he sidestepped my oncoming being, and I went straight into the adjourning wall with a comical 'Splat'. I was spread a good deal over the wall.

"Well, seeing as your friend is out of commotion there, why don't you two just hand over the money, and I promise to let you two go at least." Bucky said turning to Gunny and Marci.

"Sorry Bucky, we honestly came here expecting to walk in and walk out with his folks." Gunny said. "So, unfortunately for you, the money's not here."

"What? Who would be so stupid as to expect that plan to work?"

"About as stupid as the guy who falls for the same trick twice." I said.

"And who are you to tal…" Bucky started saying as he whipped around, right into my fist for the second time. "And it's not stupid, just crazy." I finished as Bucky fell to the floor. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with my parents."

I again felt the familiar pull from Bucky's Vac-Vac powers and looked back at him. H was still conscious this time, surprisingly. "You didn't honestly think that was going to work twice did you?"

"Yes, yes I did. But seeing as it didn't, I'm actually going to have to try this time." I said with one hell of a false bravado. I was honestly expecting him to faint again.

"You don't honestly think we'll let you fight the captain without him having some backup do you?" One of Bucky's crew spoke up. "Yeah, take him out!" Another shouted. Five of them started to charge me.

"I don't think so!" Marci yelled as she jumped in and swiftly took two of them down with a neck drop. She took out another two with a leg swipe. While the last one just collapsed, and then I noticed Gunny juggling some stones. So they still had my back, which was good to know. Now, focus back on Bucky.

We were still in our stalemate, him trying to suck me in, and I anchoring myself down with my densifyed weight. I was getting tired of this, so I tried to whip up two more daggers like I did for the bartender, with pretty much the same results. But as soon as they were done, they were sucked into Bucky's vacuum. Perfect.

Before he could react this time, he had two diamond knives through his hand. He screamed in agony and let the vacuum break. This gave me enough time to walk up to him and punch him straight in the face with a diamond fist. I could hear his jaw break as it went on, and this time Bucky was truly out.

I turned around to find Marci standing amongst a battlefield of unconscious men with Gunny walking over to her with two full mugs of beer. "Well, you two sure work fast."

"Ain't nothing but experience Cymond." Gunny replied. "So are we getting your folks or not?"

"Oh, right, be right back down." I said as I went upstairs. Not surprisingly, it wasn't all that complicated. There was only the rafter above the bar and one hallway leading in. I headed down the hallway and heard banging on the door to my left. I guess dad and grandpa still hadn't given up breaking the door down.

"Did someone order room service?" I shouted over their banging. It immediately stopped. "Is that you son?" My dad called out.

"Who else? Hold on for a sec, I'll get you out of there."

"You might want to find the guy with the key first, it's locked from both sides."

"Don't worry about it dad." I said as I slid my hand into the lock. As soon as I felt the shape settle, I twisted my hand and heard a small click. My dad then threw the door in, with my hand still in it.

"It's good to see you son!" My dad said grabbing me into one of his bear hugs.

"Nice to see you to dad, just a problem though." I was able to squeak out.

"What's that?"

"My hand is still stuck in the lock."

"Oh." He said, letting me go. I was then able to get my hand out of the lock, and then my mom was on me crying lightly. "It's so good to see you Cymond." She said.

"It's great to see you unharmed mom. Just a question though, did they bring someone else along with you?"

"No, why do you ask?" My mom asked, still hugging me.

"Because there's someone else across the hall. Tied up and unconscious it seems."

"How do you know that?" My grandpa asked, a bit suspiciously. To answer, I just held up and deconstructed my hand. "Oh."

"Now, if you don't mind mom, I would like to not leave someone here unconscious."

"Sure, sure, do what you need to." My mom said, letting go.

I walked over to the other side of the hallway and laid my hand over the door handle and about to slip in when the lock burned me. "Ow! That stings." I exclaimed as I drew my hand back and shook it. I went back to the rafter and leaned over to see if I could find Gunny. I saw him enjoying a beer at a table with Marci. "Hey Gunny, is there a set of keys down there? I need them."

"Sure, I see a set, hold on and open your hand." I did so and not a second later I was holding a pair of keys. "There ya go Cymond."

"Thanks Gunny!" I called back over as I came back to unlock the door.

"Gunny? Wasn't he the one who tried to assault you in the town library?" My dad asked, tensing up as though he were about to have a 'talk' with Gunny.

"Yeah, he was, but we're fine now." I said, holding my dad by the shoulder.

"If you say so son." He said relaxing.

"Thanks, I really appreciate you not beating up my friends. Now, as for the door…" I said as I put the key in the lock. I turned it and as soon as I opened the door I felt weird. For one, Luffy and Robin were unconscious on the floor cuffed, as well as a strange blue crystal hanging from the ceiling. The closer I got to the crystal, the weirder I felt.

"Hey! Luffy! Robin! What are you guys doing here? Come on, we should go." I said as I came over to Luffy to shake him awake. "Luffy, dinner's ready!" Nothing, something was really wrong. I tried to unlock Luffy's cuffs with my powers, but I only got burned again. I was finally able to get the cuffs off of both of them, but I started felling so tired, I had to get out of the room.

"Dad, if you could go in and get them, I would really appreciate it."

"Sure, no problem son."

"That's greeeat…" Was all I got out before I collapsed.


	13. A Ship and Her Pirate Crew

**A Ship and Her Pirate Crew:**

I woke with a hard slap to the face. I started awake to see who had hit me. But all I could see was a woman's arm sticking out of my chest. But as soon as I saw it, it disappeared. I looked around and saw that I was sitting at the bar with my mom and dad next to me, with Gunny, Marci, Grandpa, Luffy, and Robin sitting at one of the tables nearby.

"What happened? Why did I pass out?" I asked, still a bit disoriented from my sudden wake up call.

"You passed out from to much exposure to seastone." Robin said. "You were really reckless touching so much of it and actually stepping into a room laden with it."

"Well, I couldn't just leave you two in a room unconscious. And what is seastone anyways?"

"It's a mineral that's about as potent as actually stepping into the actual ocean. You have the book, you should know that Devil Fruit user's can no longer move or use their powers in sea water." Gunny reminded me.

"Oh, right. But, how did you two get captured anyways? You guys are some of the most fearsome people in the world, how could you get captured by a two-bit pirate like Bucky?" I asked.

"I really don't know. One minute Luffy and I are paying for our stay, the next we're waking up here seeing your father and grandfather carrying you out of a seastone laden room." Robin explained.

"But where are the others then? Surely the others would have been with you." Gunny said.

"They actually got drafted by Franky to work on the modifications to the Thousand Sunny." Dad said.

"Really? I really have thought him and Usopp could have easily made those adjustments for a skipping functions." I questioned, something wasn't quite right.

"Well, son, on that point, you would be right." My dad said. "But they had to have a few more hands for another project. But before we can go with that, I want to introduce you to an old friend."

"What are you talking about? You were a pirate who decided to stay here, how can you possibly know anyone as an old friend here?"

"Well, as it turns out, I wasn't the only one to settle down here." Dad said, but before I could ask him any more, the bartender burst out of the storeroom with nine very full beers on a tray.

"Well I'll be Sam, I honestly didn't think you of all people would have stayed here of all places." He said as he laid the tray of beers at the table with everyone else.

"Dad, you know the bartender here? But I thought you had never come up here since you came to the island."

"And that you would be right son, but this man here is Sanget, my crew's old navigator. He's also one of my oldest friends." My dad said, patting the guy on his back.

"But, but, if you were a pirate to, how many of you have stayed behind? Don't tell me the entire crew is what started this town!"

"No, no, nothing like that." Sanget said. "We are the only two here that I know of. In fact, I thought I was the only one here until today. But when my son comes home in a bit, we'll take you to what your father has been hinting at."

After that, we all sat around the table so that Sanget and my father could share their tales of piracy with Robin and Luffy. It was actually quite a ball to hear of my father from Sanget's point of view. About halfway through the beers, though, I heard a hard rapping on the bar's door. I extended my senses outside through the wood.

"It's three men. Two of them seem to be restraining the third." I announced to the group.

"Ah, good, that should be my son then." Sanget said as he got up and went to the door. As he opened it, I saw two police holding a very pissed man between them. I was getting better at this.

"Mr. Sanget, this is the fourth time your son has had to be forcibly removed from a riot this month. Another incident and he's going to have to start doing jail time." One of the officers informed Sanget.

"Thank you officer's. I'll make sure he doesn't do it again." Sanget said as he dragged his son in by the nape of his shirt. He closed the door and practically dragged his son across the floor to us. Sanget pulled his son up to stand on his own feet as he introduced us.

"Everyone, this is my son Tengen. He's been helping me around the bar for a long time, but it seems his old mans sense for violence has started kicking in. I've actually been training him in the art of navigation for such a day as today."

Tengen stood about as tall as his dad, had short black hair and a very strong chin. He was wearing a plain red t-shirt, but I could obviously see deeper stains of blood. He also had on brown pants and a pair of rudimentary shoes. It was also obvious that this last skirmish hadn't been his first, either that or working at a bar was more dangerous than it looked. He had light scars over his eyes and plenty on his arms.

"What are ya talking about dad? What's going on today that all of those boring days of stargazing are going to be helpful?" Tengen said.

"Well son, you have been saying that this island was getting to boring for you. So I signed you up for Cymond's pirate crew."

"WHAT!" Tengen and I said at the same time. I slammed my beer on the table and whipped around to my own dad. "What is that crazy man talking about? I don't have a pirate crew. Hell, I don't even have a boat!"

"Wrong on both counts captain." Gunny said. I turned to glare at him, but he and Marci were both beaming at me. "For one, you already have me and Marci on your crew, and as for the boat, we just have to take you down to the docks." Gunny said as he stood up.

Everyone stood up and started heading to the door, leaving Tengen and me in shock. "Well, are you two coming?" I heard Robin ask from the door.

"Yeah, sure, we're coming." I said as I stood up, put my arm around Tengen and lead him out the door.

…

"This is what we wanted to show you son." My dad said as he walked out onto the dock. I was still stuck at the pier, with my jaw hitting the ground, quite literally. I was looking at two of the most impressive boats I had ever seen. The one on the right had a comical looking lion head on the front, and I was told by Franky that she was called the Thousand Sunny. It gleamed like nobody's business and had a full growing garden aboard. Then there was the ship next to it.

It had the head of a comical looking reindeer (Chopper was still complaining for Franky messing up his idea) and had you basic three mast setup. It looked like a near replica to the Thousand Sunny, except that it had no greenery on it, it was at least a size smaller, and it was green and black (Zoro must have won to do painting). I just couldn't wrap my head around it; this was supposed to be _my_ ship.

"Well come on, it's not going to bite." My dad called from the ship. I retracted my jaw and pushed Tengen along with me, he still wasn't over the shock. About half way to the boat, he regained his senses and started walking by himself. We found Franky standing in the middle of the boat with arms crossed and looking very smug.

"What do you think of my latest project?" he boasted.

"I can start with 'Where did you get all of this?' closely followed by 'Why?'"

Franky just laughed. "Is that all? Making the boat was easy; I just copied the Thousand Sunny for most of it, tweaking it a bit here and there for your use. As for actually getting the materials, why I bought the finest lumber on the island of course." My dad leaned over and whispered "Meaning he went into the forest, chopped down the best trees, and made it from scratch."

Lord, this man could make a boat like this out of raw lumber? If that's his ingenuity, I didn't want to see him fight. "Now, the only component left is for you to actually make a design for your pirate flag." Franky said, rubbing his giant metal hands together.

"Hold on a second, who said I was going to be a pirate? I don't want to be chased down by the government." I said, backing away slowly.

"Aw, come on dude, don't think of it as piracy, just think of it as 'free sailing'." Tengen finally said as he patted me on the back. Now that I thought about it, he was right. I didn't have to raid innocent villages, I could just go adventuring. And my dad had given me my powers so that I could have a life outside Monju Island. I stepped foreword a bit and thought for a second. "Franky, do you think you could do something like this?" I asked as clapped my hands together and drew it out so that there was a small design floating between my hands.

"I can do it exactly like that if you give me a second." He said as he went to the main post and got out some needle and thread out of his arms. Honestly, how prepared can you be. In a minute or two, Franky stood triumphantly saying, "Done!" and hoisting the sail.

The design was the same skull as the straw hats, but instead of a straw hat, it was a grey bandana with the swirls of the Carbon-Carbon fruit on it. And instead of the crossed bones, it was instead a pistol and the talons of a Hawk. "Perfect Franky, you're the best."

"Think nothing of it!" He laughed.

"Why something as strange as that son?" My dad asked walking up beside me, looking up at my design.

"Well, the bandana represents myself and my power, the skull represents Tengen for the brawler I've learned he is, and the talon and gun are for Marci and Gunny." I answered. "We are the founding members of the Carbon Copy Pirates after all." I grinned

* * *

Sorry it took so long to update, I have been without internet access for the last week :(. Thusly so, if you have not seen, I have a poll running on my account page for an idea for a character, but I'm not saying whether they are good or bad. Please vote, otherwise I'm going to be stuck on what to do. (And thus there shall be no updates.)


	14. Bar a Fight and Move

**Bar a Fight and Move:**

"Hey, hey, I didn't say anything about joining no pirate crew." Tengen said as he started backing off the ship. His dad, from totally getting off the ship, stopped him.

"And who said you weren't? Face it Tengen, you don't fit here. You need to look outside of Monju Island." Sanget said as he patted his son on the shoulder. That just seemed to be the wrong move.

Tengen grabbed the hand on his shoulder and flipped Sanget over, aiming to slam him onto the deck. That didn't happen as Sanget planted his feet on the deck instead. "You know I deal with bar fights all the time, this is nothing." He said as he stood straight up and flipped his son over his shoulder. Tengen also landed feet first, but now the two of them were facing each other in a handshake of death grip, neither giving out. I sighed. I walked over and grabbed both of their wrists with a vice like grip until they both let go.

"What's the big idea?" Tengen snapped at me.

"The idea is, is that I would _like_ a navigator to come along. If I don't, I'm likely to die not two days in. And right now, I only have you as an option. Now, I'll give you an ultimatum." This seemed to gain Tengen's attention. "We have a one-on-one fight. I want a feel for how you work out as a fighter, the seas won't be kind. If you lose, you come onto my crew, no mumbling or grumbling. If I lose, you can ether stay here, or become captain."

"What!" I heard as a simultaneous yell from about everyone.

"You can't just gamble away being the captain!" Gunny exclaimed.

"I won't follow a brute like _him._" Marci said, glaring at Tengen.

"Son, think about what you're doing." My dad said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Deal." Tengen said.

"Then it's on _now._" I grinned evilly as I shoved Tengen straight over the side of the boat back onto the pier. I let go of Sanget and ran straight after Tengen. I jumped off the boat and was faced with Tengen's fist flying to my face. I raised my arms into a cross block and hardened. Even condensed, I moved at least two feet back. I wasn't wrong when I assessed Tengen to be strong. When I brought my arms down, I could see he was shaking his hand he had just punched me with.

"Punched quite a few things, haven't you?" I said.

"Shut up." He growled at me and charged again, but this time I was ready. I raised my arms for another cross block, but at the last second, I dissolved my legs and passed right under him. After he passed over me, I stood back up and elbowed him in the back of the head. He stumbled a bit and turned back to me, growling. "That was cheap."

"I didn't put any rules to this fight, now did I?"

"You're right, you didn't." He smirked and smashed his foot against the boards of the pier. The board he happened to hit was the one my left foot was on, making me stumble, giving Tengen enough time to run up and punch me in the face. That is, if my face had still been there to punch.

I had seen him coming and I had panicked. And without my concentration, I fell apart like I did on day one. I felt the entirety of Tengen's body pass through me, and I felt something weird. I felt the sensation of him going through me like I did when Gunny had tried to pistol whip me, but there was something else, like an intent.

I drew myself back together and faced Tengen. He had stumbled a bit from not making a connection, but he adjusted quickly. Now we were in the opposite positions from a second ago, and an idea popped into my head. I raised my right leg to slam down onto the board, and Tengen saw it coming, he adjusted himself sideways so the board would fly loose without disrupting him.

What actually happened is that I placed my foot back down and flipped up the singular board Tengen was standing on, throwing him into the air, straight at me. I didn't wait for him to meet me. Before he could hit the ground, I extended my upper body to meet him in midair and clothes lined him. He went with the blow and tried to grip at my arm, but it wasn't there for him to grab. Tengen fell back to the ground on his back. I promptly sat on his chest, fully condensed; I probably weighed as much as twice as him, at least.

"Give up yet?" I asked.

"I'll only give up when I'm unconscious!" He yelled as he tossed me off of him. I landed on solid ground with a small impact crater. The guy was stronger than I gave him credit for. He was also a lot denser than I gave him credit for, because he started rushing me again. I just phased through him one more time, and the same 'intention' passed through me. I turned to face him, and he punched me right in the face.

It _hurt!_ I had never been in an honest to goodness brawl before, and this was probably going to be the first of many, but I think I heard my nose crack. How was this even possible? I was a Logian class user! Nothing was supposed to be able to touch me. Even if I hadn't reacted in time, I still should have flexed to his punch.

I spat and could see blood; I could taste its metalicness. I was right, that hit had smashed my nose, but I was glad to know that I could fix it. Tengen started rushing me now, but instead of hoping to phase through them, I started dodging. I don't know what he did to hit me dead on, but I didn't want it happening again. We were backing up, and heading straight for the water.

Maybe he wasn't as dense as I thought. But that didn't mean that I would be outwitted that fast. When we were about ten feet away from the end of the dock, instead of dodging, I set up another cross block. I could see he was throwing in more power to knock me back further, but just before contact, I opened a hole in the middle of my arms and moved my head to the left. He missed entirely, but before he could withdraw, I closed my arms around his. He came in for a chop at my arms, but I opened up again for him to hit himself. He winced, and I left his arms in one of the stiffer concoctions I had come up with while I had been trying to make a rope to tie up Bucky's crew.

I knew it wouldn't hold long, but a few seconds were all I needed. I hooked my leg behind his and swept up, in the process sweeping my leg through his to leave the same the constraint between them. When he was dazed and on his back, I connected the two constraints so he was hog tied, and threw him into the water. He might be strong, but without some sort of balance point to struggle, it was going to a bit harder.

I went over and saw a few bubbles coming up. I was sure Tengen wasn't going to drown, but just in case, I started weaving together a net to fetch him out. Hopefully, seawater wouldn't affect anything I made into dissolving if it was outside my power. It then hit me, if it did dissolve, Tengen would be up immediately. After a full two minutes, I was done with my net and Tengen started bobbing up. I tossed in my net, and it didn't dissolve as well, so I dragged Tengen up.

He was still hogtied, so I undid them and his limbs flopped down, useless.

"You ungrateful little bastard!" Sanget yelled from behind me. I didn't even need to turn to know he was about to hit me. He kept swinging and kicking, but they all phased through. "I introduce you to my son and you drown him? I'm going to have your head!" He kept yelling, even as he tired himself out.

But I knew Tengen wasn't dead, not yet at least. I could still feel him living, so I probed my hand over his body. After I found the sweet spot, I hit him as hard as any normal person would have. He coughed up the water and stared around groggily.

"I guess you win, captain." Tengen wheezed, then promptly passed out

…

I had Chopper take a look at Tengen, and he said that he would be fine after he got a bit of sleep. I asked if he could see if Tengen had a Devil Fruit, but Chopper said the only real way to confirm if someone had a power would be to ask the people themselves, and Sanget said he had never seen his son do anything extraordinary, so I dropped it. Sanget said he would stay beside his son until he woke up, so I left him in the infirmary.

"That was really reckless son." My dad said as I came back out onto the deck.

"I know, but I felt like it was the only way to convince Tengen." I sighed as I leaned over the edge of the boat. I glanced around and didn't see anyone else around. "Where did everyone else go?"

"Your mother took dad home, but she'll be back to see you off. Gunny and Marci said they had a few things to grab from their old ship. And the Straw Hat crew went back to their own ship to set off for tomorrow."

"I see." But then I perked. "Dad, I need to go home."

"Why's that?"

"Well, I'm going to have to wear something else besides this fisherman's getup. And having something warm to wear wouldn't hurt. It would probably also be a good idea to have _something_ to sleep under, it's not like Franky decked the ship out with every single last detail." I said as I left to go get my own stuff.

"But you already have- ugh, no reasoning with that kid." My dad sighed as he went back to check up on Sanget.

…

One short trip to my house later, I'm back to my ship (Really should find a name for her). I said my goodbyes to Grandpa and Mom, just so she wouldn't have to make the trip back up north, but she insisted on coming. I could see Gunny and Marci milling around the deck, actually getting a bit to mushy for my own tastes.

"Eh hem!" I announced my presence, making both of them turn to attention. I did notice however that they were still holding hands. "How was getting your stuff?"

"It was no real problem." Gunny said. "And with the money we got from the crew, we started up our food supply. We should be good for a year!" Then it hit me, _we don't have a cook!_

I think they both could read my mind, because they both smiled. "Don't worry Cymond." Marci said. "I'm a great cook." I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is Tengen up yet?" I asked as I boarded the ship.

"He sure is." Gunny smirked.

"Ok, what did you do to him?" I asked, not to happy with the look on Gunny's face.

"Nothing, nothing. You should just go down and see him. I'm sure he's still in bed." Gunny said.

"How long has he been awake?"

"About half an hour." Marci replied, also getting the same smirk as Gunny.

"And he's still in bed?"

"Just go see." They both said. I was thoroughly curious now. By the time I got down there, though, I had to try really hard not to laugh.

Sanget was absolutely smothering his son. He wasn't crying, but I'm sure he had been, both of their shirts were soaked at the shoulders, but his son couldn't break the bear hug he was in. And seeing as he had thrown me, being twice his weight, was impressive. I could also see what I guess was Tengen's stuff, because there were defiantly things in the room that hadn't been there when I had left. Let's just say, there was more than one case of clothes.

"Um, if I may interrupt?" I said tentatively. Sanget immediately dropped his son and turned to me. I could see Tengen mouth me a silent 'thank you'. "If I could talk with my navigator, alone?"

"Oh, uh, sure thing Captain Cymond." Sanget said as he left. 'Captain Cymond' did sound a little impressive, but I didn't feel like I had quite earned it yet. But I would just bring that up later.

"So, what do you want captain?" Tengen asked defeatedly. I don't think he liked losing to me.

"Cymond will be fine Tengen." I said as I walked over. "Are you really as good a navigator as your dad said?"

"He drilled everything he knew into me. I bet I could navigate a boat halfway around the world and still know where I was." Tengen said proudly.

"Well then, welcome aboard Tengen. Welcome to the Carbon Copy Pirates." I said as we shook.

* * *

Like Cymond said, I _really_ need a name for the boat, because, let's face it, I'm kind of running dry on names. So help out and post a name or PM me. Thanks.


	15. Getting Comfortable

**Getting Comfortable:**

By morning, I had a basic idea of how the ship worked. I think Franky took into account the fact that I was a fisherman's kid, and fashioned the basic functions as such. There was plenty of space to move around in, but I was still getting to know what some of them actually did. I found at least enough sleeping area for at least 20 crewmembers, each exchangeable with at least three assortments of bed. I also found a small side room that just had a swivel chair with armrests, but when I sat down, it spun around 6 or 7 times and dumped my body back into the hallway, my head was still reeling a bit in the air before reattaching.

When everybody was up and about, Marci started up the fully equipped kitchen. I don't even know if she was aware of it or not, but in the middle of her quick preparations, I saw feathers start sprouting.

"Does this always happen?" I leaned over to Gunny. We were at a long dining table with about ten chairs, which was directly behind Marci's cooking station. Tengen, Gunny, and I had all just sat down in a row.

"Only when she gets to excited to notice." He smiled in reminiscence. As Marci finished up, she noticed some feathers on the ground.

"Oh my, I don't think I've been _that_ happy since after our honeymoon." She said as she laid out four plates of scrambled eggs and sausage. I was glad I could become immaterial, otherwise I think I might have just scattered my plate as I fell foreword through the table. I got up to see all three of them eating calmly.

"W-Wait, so you actually mean that you two are actually-"

"Married?" Gunny said as he finished a sausage. "Well yeah, why else would we join together?"

"B-But, you two have been pirates of Bucky's crew since-"

"Forever, I know." Marci finished. "But that doesn't stop a marriage now does it?"

"But, where could pirates possibly get _married?_ In fact, how were you two _not_ arrested?" I asked as I sat down, just to fall through the chair due to their sudden laughter.

"Who said we didn't?" They said in unison.

"We got caught the second we stepped out of the church doors." Marci said. "They couldn't barge in and arrest us during a holy ceremony due to the islands own law, and the second we got out, we had the time of our lives!"

"We gave them a wholloping I bet they're still feeling sore from." Gunny continued. "It took one of their captains to actually fight herself to cuff us, with herself."

"Don't you mean 'by herself'?" Tengen spoke for the first time since he got to the table. He had been taking this all in stride and was already done with breakfast, now intently listening.

"No no no." Marci said. "She had this sort of Devil Fruit where she could make anything that ran through her be tied up."

"Unfortunately for her, she cuffed us together." Gunny grinned.

"Gunny swung me around and around and launched me right at their boat. And with his power and by light frame, we made it over that entire crowd easily, taking their boat and supplies to have the time of our lives for a week." Marci sighed. "But then we had to report back."

Before the mood could drop, I tossed it back up. "But now you're here!" I grinned. "And with that, we can have all the adventures we can handle." That perked her right up.

"Yeah! We have a new boat and everything. We will do wonders with her, the magnificent, um…"

"We don't have a name for the boat yet do we?" Gunny asked me.

"Uh, no, no we don't. I kind of drew a blank when I got a ship dropped in my lap." I admitted. "So, any takers on naming?"

"What was the Straw Hats ship's name again?" Tengen asked.

"I think Nami said it was the Thousand Sunny or something." Marci said, thinking hard.

"Huh, I thought that thing on the bow was a sunflower." Gunny said.

"Actually, I think that was a lion." I added. "But never mind that, why do you need to know their ship's name Tengen?"

"Well, this one is basically that ones little sister, so I thought we could use a similar naming process." Tengen shrugged.

"That's brilliant!" Marci exclaimed, but then sobered. "So, what's on our bow then?"

"If I heard Chopper correctly, I think it's supposed to be a deer of some sort."

"Hm," Gunny wondered. "A green and black outline, a deer, and the Carbon Copy Pirates." He then snapped his fingers. "Marci, remember when we came to that winter island with the pink snow?"

"Oh yes, that was beautiful." Marci sighed.

"Didn't the locals have a legend of a wondering monster?"

Marci thought for a moment. "I think I remember hearing something about that, but where are you going with it?"

"Well, I was just thinking, the paint job reminds me of those woods, and the legend said that it was a fearsome monster that wandered from town to town."

"But that it was actually a scared deer!" Marci finished. "Oh, that's brilliant! It sends shivers of fear _and_ excitement down my spine."

"Mind clueing us into this little fantasy of yours?" I interrupted.

"How about the Wandering Timber?" Gunny suggested.

"The Wandering _Timber_?" Tengen said with a skeptical look.

"Sure!" Marci perked. "Doesn't it sound like the kind of thing that lurks through the night, but just as you turn, it's nothing?"

"Um, a little, I think." Tengen conceded.

"Well, I like it, and so does Gunny and Marci, so I don't think your vote will matter much at the moment Tengen." I smiled as I finally finished a sausage. I had to admit, Marci was an _excellent_ cook.

"Fine, fine." Tengen said as he raised his hands up in defeat. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go explore a little." And with that, he got up and dumped his dishes in the sink. Just as he left, he opened the same door I did.

"Wait, Tengen! Whatever you do, don't sit-" There was a whirring sound and a thud. "-down." I sighed. "Excellent meal by the way Marci." I said as I ate a bit more.

"Your welcome captain." She said, keeping up her chipper mood.

"Ah, about the captain thing. Calling me Cymond is just fine. I don't think I'm quite ready for the title 'captain' yet." I said as I scratched my head.

"Whatever you say Cymond." Marci and Gunny said in unison. I was going to have to get over the weird feeling that gave me.

…

When Marci and Gunny had finished up the dishes, they went on their merry way of exploring the ship together. Since I had already done that before breakfast, all that was left for me to do was find a decent place to relax as the ship sailed.

I tried resting between the antlers of Timber, but that just didn't feel right, to many bends, even for me. I tried the crows nest, but then I rationalized the fact that if someone were needed up there, I would be in the way. I eventually settled on a small room in the bottom of the ship that didn't have anything in it. I guess Franky could provide _everything_, including free space.

It felt perfect. The sound of the waves so close by reminded me of home, and it was free, so I could decorate as I saw fit. Plus, I hadn't seen one captain's quarter in the entirety of the ship. So, after a bit of delicate work, I fashioned a simple sign that said "Cymond's private space. Please knock first.'" and attached it to the door, inserting it a bit into the wood. I smiled at my work a little, but was distracted by the rapid pounding above me.

"Cymond! We have a little problem!" I heard Tengen call.

"Be there in a sec Tengen!" I called back up. I closed the door to my empty room, and thought it would be quickest to just materialize through the boards. I broke myself apart and drifted up through the boards. I rematerialized myself the deck above and found myself behind Tengen. "What seems to be the problem?"

Tengen jumped slightly and faced me. "I can't take us anywhere." He said in a slight panic.

"All right, calm down. Why can't we go anywhere?" I said as I laid my hands on his shoulders. He gave them a quick glance before continuing. He dug into his pocket and drew out what looked like a wristband with a glass sphere in it.

"We can't go anywhere because my Log Pose won't settle on a destination."

"A Log what now?"

Tengen sighed a little and explained. "A Log Pose is what's used in the Grand Line to go from one island to the next, because of all the islands having their own magnetic pull, a regular compass is pointless. A Log Pose can lock onto the island's magnetic pull to each other and point the way. It takes time, but this was my dad's when he landed here, so it should have had more than enough time to adjust. But look." He said as he held it up. "The needle just keeps spinning around and around. And when I think it's got it, it starts spinning the other way!"

"Well, that is a problem." I said as I bit my thumb. "Maybe Gunny and Marci can help."

…

"Holy crap man, and you actually expected this thing to work? This things an antique." Gunny said as he took a look at the Log Pose. "I'm not even sure it still has a charge. I think it's spinning because of the wire twisting again and again."

"What makes you say it's an antique Gunny?" I asked.

"Because Tengen here said it worked when his dad landed _here. _You do remember we're in the second half of the Grand Line, right?" He said as he handed Tengen the Log Pose back.

"Yeah, I remember. Some people said Monju is on the 'hard' route, whatever that is."

Gunny's eyes opened a bit. "The 'hard' route?" He sighed. "I know you said we were still in the Grand Line, but Bucky always opted for the easy way. And let me say, none of it was easy." He got up and went to one of his cases. He pulled out another wristband and tossed it to Tengen. "Try that one. Marci and I lifted it from our old ships navigator."

I looked over and saw the same thing as the Log Pose, but there were now three of them in one set. "And how is this one different from mine?" Tengen asked.

"For one, it works. Two, the islands in the New World are usually unstable, but this New World Log Pose is able to lock onto three separate signals. Depending on how much the needle's shaking, that indicates the stability of the island." Gunny explained. As I looked again, I saw that the middle of the three was doing 180 spins left and right, the left was gliding back and forth smoothly, and the right one was near still.

"Well, seeing as we're new to all of this, how about we set off to one of the stable islands first?" I said as I patted Tengen on his back. He tensed for a second, and then smiled. "And honestly, lighten up. I'm not going to beat you up any more." I said with one more pat and headed to the deck.

As I looked around, everything just looked so dull. Sure, the green and black was nice, but it got monotonous. And even if Franky had given us the necessities, we still needed to add a personal touch. So I stood against the side of the wooden wall, and closed my eyes.

Even if it was just a little, I wanted the Wandering Timber to live up to her name. So I extended a thin tentacle to collect wild grass and a few seeds. When they came back, I made up a basket for the ingredients to be dumped. I looked at my small harvest and smiled, it was more than enough.

I had discovered two large hidden panels on the main deck, one in the deck, and one on the rear superstructure. I decided to take a note from the Thousand Sunny, and have some greenery. I stamped my foot and the hidden panels on the deck slid aside, revealing a large area of dirt that took up most of the deck. I buried the grass there and left it to see the one on the superstructure. It was narrower, but still large enough to plant the three fruit seeds separately.

After that, I concentrated on the two groups. I didn't want to wait, so I tried what I could, I wanted them to grow. I wanted the grass the most, I think monotonous time on the waves would get to me eventually, so a place of relaxation would be nice. The plants could work for themselves, but I wanted some proof of what I did.

The grass took instantly, without much prompting, it spread like wildfire. It easily spread to the edge and stopped growing just short of becoming unmanageable. I think if he could, Franky would tinker with the world itself, because I could be sure he had a hand in the growth.

The fruit plants on the other hand, went a lot slower. Probably because they were a lot more complex. I had to stop a small ways after they popped out, but it was recognizable. There was the beginning of a grape vine, a sturdy start for an apple tree, and the strawberry bush already had a few leaves,

"Hey Cymond, do you think we should eat lunch before or after we le- whoa!" Marci reacted as she saw the lawn that was now our deck. She spotted me and the other plants, and had the look of amazement. "Did you do this?"

"With help, but yeah." I said as I came down the stairs to meet her. "But so what was this about lunch?"

"Uh, um, oh right! Should we have lunch before or after we take off?" She asked absently, examining the greenery from afar.

"I think an after launch party would be nice." I said. I don't think Marci heard me though, so I snapped my fingers. She snapped out of whatever world she was in and looked at me. "Lunch, after launch, that is all." I said with a smile. Marci gave a small one in return. "Now go study." I said as I shooed her to the upper field.

Tengen came up and immediately went to the wheel up behind the Timber's bow. I came over to talk. "So, knowing where we're going?"

"Only if you can have the sail's pulled down." He smirked.

I gave a loose salute. "Ai ai sir." I said with a mock and went around to the three masts and pulled open the sails. I then remembered we were still in port and swore, getting ready to crash before we even left. But instead, the wind blew us back a bit, enough for Tengen to turn the Wandering Timber around. "Do you remember how my dad said to get over the reef?" I called down from the crows nest.

"Sure I do, watch this!" He called as he twisted one of the rungs on the wheel. I suddenly felt a lurch and a whirring coming from either side of the boat. I looked down and saw paddleboat paddles come out of the side of Timber.

"Oh for the love of- really?"

"And that's not all!" Tengen called. He twisted the rung a bit more and every other paddle became longer.

"Marci! Gunny! Hold onto something bolted down!" I called out. The wind had just picked us up, and the paddles did the rest of the jumping.

* * *

Sorry for the wait, I had a block and School started. But now Cymond and the gang are off. Don't let this block happen again! Post or PM me with ideas on how to screw with them! :)


	16. A Problem Half Solved

**A Problem Half Solved:**

I had been right to tell everyone to hold on, because I was about jumping out of the crow's nest every time we jumped. Thankfully, Tengen was a very competent driver, because it was barely a minute until we were over the reef of coral.

The amazing part of Monju Island was that the coral around the island were in a state of perpetual waves. It was easy to ride in, but the reef would cut into the ships trying to leave port without the proper jumping mechanic. When everything had settled down, I looked back and smiled as the island got further and further away.

"Well Tengen, you have the compass, you lead the way!" I called down. He gave me thumbs up and twisted the same rung back and the paddles reverted to being even, and reverted back into the Wandering Timber. The wind had picked up and we started taking a decent pace. I descended to the deck and walked over to Tengen. "So, mind telling me just exactly what all of that was?"

"Come with me and I'll show you." He said as he took one more glance at his compass and twisted another rung. "There, that should keep us on course in a ten degree error." I let that question slip by until he showed me what I had already asked for. He led me down to the bottom of the ship and opened one of the myriads of doors. Inside, there were multiple sheets of paper, all with a different kind of ship design.

"These were all of the designs Franky left for us. He didn't use all of them, but he left them just in case we liked them more than he did." Tengen said as he picked up a sheet that had the design of a circle cut into six even pieces. "This is what's in the center of the base of the ship. Here and here have the paddles." Tengen said as he pointed to two adjacent sections. "The other four are left for any sort of medium sort of device. Now, all of these ports can be accessed from the outside, but I think we could modify some of them to be accessed from inside. I was thinking something along the line of emergency storage."

"Or maybe some sort of small combat ship?" I interjected.

"Hm, I think we could do that too." Tengen admitted. I looked around the room a bit more. There were quite a few drawings of different mast set ups and cabin designs. I think Franky set it up that if we ever got bored of the set up, we could just do some interior decorating. Then I thought of the Straw Hat crew a bit more.

"I think we might have a problem." I said out loud.

"Oh? And what would that be? I think we're pretty set to take on the Grand Line if you ask me." Tengen said as he sketched on some scrap paper.

"That's just it, _we_ might be, but what about Timber?" I asked. Tengen just looked at me like I was crazy. "Well, we might be able to fight off what's coming, but what would we do if Timber got damaged? In fact, what would _we_ do if we got severely hurt? We don't have a doctor _or_ a shipwright. We might be able to do patch work, but if one of the mast's were to snap in half, I don't think any of us are qualified to fix that."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Couldn't you just bind the two halves together? Or, better yet, just integrate more wood in, making the ship bigger?"

"And sail on a boat being held together as long as I was alive? I don't even know if I could do that, not to mention if I had to be able to fix the bottom of the ship. I _can't_ touch sea water any more, remember?"

"Well then, it looks like we're properly screwed right now." Tengen sighed. We went on discussing what types of modifications to the Wandering Timber that we would like, when we felt a giant tremor rock the ship. We both immediately ran up to the ships deck to see what was happening.

It was a storm so bad; I couldn't even see the bow of the ship. "Where the hell did this come from?!" I shouted over the ripping wind.

"Ah, good, you two are up!" Gunny shouted from one of the riggings. "We need to keep the sails from being ripped off! Franky made them pretty sturdy, but Cymond should get up top to make sure they stay!" I didn't need to be told twice, I kept myself close to the ground and integrated with the main post, and when I got to the top, I quickly spread out a network of tendrils to report stress. But just as I got done with that, the rain turned to a small snow flurry. I retracted everything immediately, and retreated to the cabin.

I was shivering, because even though it had been a light covering of snow, it had been near freezing out in the open air. I found Tengen, Gunny, and Marci in the beginning of the hallway as well, rubbing their hands together.

"Would someone like to explain to me what the _hell_ is wrong with the weather?"

"This is what it is like all along the Grand Line's New World. There can be times of peace, and times of chaos." Gunny said.

"We're just lucky this is one of the small ones." Marci sighed.

"This was small!" I exclaimed, completely forgetting about being cold. "We went from being torn apart to being frozen!"

"It could be worse." Gunny said. "When it gets to a calm threat like the snow, that usually means we're about to clear the weather patch. Some patches could last a lot longer and have a lot more variety."

"Well that's just _perfect._" I glowered. "How are we going to deal with all of these changes that happen at the drop of a Beli?"

Tengen perked up a bit, but not from excitement. "We need to figure that out after we save the ship." I turned to look out the porthole in the door, but it was just sunny and not a cloud in the sky. Tengen pushed pass me as went to the port side. "Cymond! Can I get a sturdy spear please? A few in fact?" I didn't question it and threw him three conjured spears. "Perfect!" He exclaimed as he took one and threw it overboard. He had tossed it into the air, and by the time I was wondering what he was doing, a giant eel looking fish had jumped out of the water, maw wide open. The spear, however, impaled the thing right between the eyes, going all the way in.

"How the hell did you do that?" I asked as I ran over to see the body sink down into the sea.

"I have no idea really." Tengen admitted. "I just felt a threat and acted on it."

"You felt threatened, so your first act of defense was throwing a spear into open air?"

"It worked didn't it?" He smiled. I just sighed and fell back onto the grass. I was actually glad it was there, because I was just too tired to move from this spot. What had my dad been thinking to put me on this boat? He gives me a superpower, gives me a boat, and kicks me into the wide world of piracy. I'm pretty sure he didn't know about the random weather or giant monster attacks, but was that really a counter to throwing your kid into the wide world of danger? I'm sure I could have found a fitting life on Monju Island . Then again, watching Tengen pick up another spear and throw it from the bow to take down a giant fish with teeth down, did give me the feeling of satisfaction. Maybe that's what dad and Grandpa came home with everyday, tired and content.

What I was not content with was a giant body falling on top of me. I was crushed momentarily before phasing through to the deck below. I got up and ran all the way back to the deck and slammed the door open. "Okay, what in the world just landed on me?"

"I think it's a fishman." Marci said as she turned the thing over. In all, it looked like an average fat man, but he had a green tint to his skin, an angular face, and gills. It seemed to just be wearing a simple sea-green vest, tan shorts, and sandals. As I came over, I could hear water swishing about, so I figured it was from this guy. I poked him a bit to get a reaction, but he didn't even twitch.

"Do you think he's dead?" I asked Marci.

"From what?" She asked in confusion. "The best I could say would be drowning, but that's next to impossible."

"How about being eaten then?" Tengen suggested as he came down from the bow. "The last fish was actually smart enough to move away from my throw. Still got it in the side of the head, made a nice long slice. I think I saw some wreck of a ship in its mouth that I think it just got. I saw this guy fly out from a gap in the teeth."

"Then why does he feel and act like a water balloon?" I asked as I kept on my poking. I then got a jet of water into my face. I was shot back a bit and hit the cabin. I couldn't move for a second, but I could see the fishman wiping his mouth.

"Because it's a reaction ya damn kid." He spoke up. "Now where the hell am I?"

"Whelp, your on the Wandering Timer of the pirate crew, the Carbon Copy Pirates. And you just shot our captain." Tengen explained.

"Ah, another one then." The fishman said as he looked around. "Didn't see this one come through though, must have been after I got called out, or I'm on the back side."

"Called out for what, Mister…?" Marci asked.

"Ah, name's Skulltyrant, though people often just call me Skull." Skull said as he shook Marci's hand. "I got a call for emergency repair on one of our excavation ships. Fishman Island may be the main place where we live, but that doesn't keep us from exploring. Ya do know Fishman Island, right Miss…?"

"Oh! Um, I'm Marci, this is Tengen, and the man over there is Cymond. Gunny is somewhere below deck right now, but he'll be around eventually. And yes, I do know Fishman Island."

"I don't." I was able to call out and raise a hand. I had figured out that I had just gotten shot with seawater; so it was a matter of time to just dry off. Skull however looked a bit confused.

"How can you _not_ know when she does?" He asked. "I do take it we're in the New World, right?"

"Oh, very much so." Marci said, nodding for emphasis.

"Thing is Skull, I'm from this side. Never been outside Monju Island." I said, starting to regain motion and strength to my legs.

"Monju huh?" Skull said, looking thoughtful. "Man, I'm a bit far in." He sighed and scratched his head. "Let me guess, you guys are also looking to find One Piece and rule the New World, right?"

"One Piece? Never heard of it." I grunted as I stood up. "And as for domination, I just want to have an adventure, plain and simple. Right now, we're just going along for the ride."

"So where are you going then?" Skull asked, completely confused as to why there would be a pointless ship in such a dangerous place.

"We're just going to the most stable island that the Log Pose is pointing to."

"Ah, if it wouldn't be a problem then, can you get me back to Fishman Island then? It would be bad if I didn't show up for work."

"Uh, sure I guess." I said.

"If we could." Tengen said. I just looked at him and Marci sighed.

"What? What's the problem of getting to his island?"

"Well, one problem is trying to navigate the Grand Line outside of routes from one island to the next. So we really can only go foreword." Tengen said.

"The second problem is that Fishman Island is deep underwater." Marci continued. "We aren't set up to go there."

"And the third problem are the marines." Gunny said as he came out of the cabin.

"And how long have you been standing there?" Skull asked.

"Long enough to know you want to go home." Gunny said, then he turned to me. "You and Tengen might be innocent adventurers, but Marci and I are both wanted pirates. The flag doesn't help either.

"Well, you all put up very interesting, and legitimate points. But I have a solution to all three." Skull said confidently.

"Oh really." Gunny said as he crossed his arms. "How are you going to solve the threat of marines, getting us underwater, and actually getting us there?"

"Well, the reason why I'm here in the first place was because I was called up to help some ships have an emergency coating done because some idiot didn't do it right the first time. Second, getting you there is no problem; I have an Eternal Log Pose on me for just such an occasion. Third, the marines are a big mess and in an upheaval to catch those Straw Hat guys."

"I can believe it." I said. "But what about that stuff? Usually a coating sounds like painting, but you have no space on you for such things. And you don't have a Log Pose watch."

Skull just laughed. "Ahahaha! I don't need _pocket_ space. I already have enough space." And with that, he reached a hand down his throat and pulled out what looked like an hourglass, but it had a Log Pose sphere instead of a sand container.

"Ew." Was the first thing I said. But Skull proceeded to reach back in and pull out two buckets and a brush. When he was done and placed everything on the ground, he actually a lot thinner, ripped actually. "And that was all in your stomach?"

"Ah no, not my stomach, it all would have been digested like that. No, these were in my protective pouch."

"Protective? Like, you have ones that aren't?" Tengen wondered.

"Yep, see for yourself." Skull said as he opened up his vest and quite a few pockets in his skin.

"Well, that's different." I said, and then turned to Gunny. "Well, it's not like we had a set plan beforehand. I don't see why we _can't_ get Skull home."

"You're the captain Cymond. You tell us what to do."

"Well then." I said as I clapped. "Mr. Skull, I think we have the proper means to get you home then. I just have one question for you."

"What? How much I will pay you?" Skull sighed.

"Oh no, I'm just wondering if you're a shipwright or not." Skull looked up with wide eyes, but then narrowed them.

"Why?"

"Well, if you couldn't tell, the entire crew is currently standing on the deck." I said as I spread my arms out. "Currently, we just have a chef, navigator, and two fighters."

"Hey." Tengen said. "Don't forget I was able to punch you in the face."

"Fine, three fighters." I added sarcastically. "But, after we left port, I kind of figured that we forgot a repair crew for both the ship and people. So basically, we forgot to get a doctor and a shipwright." I admitted. Skull just looked at me for a second, and then fell onto his back laughing.

"AHAHAHA! I can't believe it! That's all? That's all you forgot? HA! You think you can just survive with three fighters? I bet you're all unarmed too, aren't you?"

"Mostly." I smiled. I dematerialized and rematerialized with my arm around Skull. "But we're all very confident in our skills." Skull looked shocked for a second, and then delicately took my hand off his shoulder.

"I can do minor repairs, I have to if I want to keep my job." He admitted.

"Good!" I said as I jumped up. "Then, while we have you on board, we'll depend on you for the minor fixes." I picked up the Log Pose container and handed it to Tengen. "And if you would Tengen, go change the course."

He gave me a loose salute. "Ai ai captain." And he went off to do his job.

I turned back to Skull, who was still sitting. "If you could work while we move, then this could go very smoothly."

Skull gave me yet another loose salute. "I'll get right on it captain." And he stood up, taking his buckets to one side of the ship and started painting the ship in a clear resin.

"And while they're at that, why don't we start that celebration lunch?" I said as I herded Marci and Gunny to the kitchen.


	17. Meeting The Yonko

**Meeting The Yonko:**

The cooking went about as smoothly as I had planned. As in, Gunny and Marci got to it and I was kicked out of the kitchen. With nothing better to do, I headed down to the room I had claimed as my own.

I might have powers over the atom of carbon, but that didn't mean that I had the power to make whatever I wanted, as I soon figured out. I didn't need a bed, there were plenty already, but when I tried making a chair with some padding, the chair was fine, but the padding disintegrated as soon as I touched it again. I also found out I couldn't make moving parts.

When I tried making a desk with movable drawers, the drawers looked nice, but were stuck shut. I had to dematerialize the whole thing and make it piece by piece. When I was done with the desk and chair, I was exhausted from all of the tedious and strenuous work. I really needed to work on how much finesse I could actually put into my work and have it be practical. It all did look pretty though.

I sat down in my new chair and pulled out _Devil Fruits and Their Curses_ from my vest. I had stopped by my bed to pick it up. I just looked at it and smiled in reminiscence. All of what I had done in the last few days was all because of this book. I decided to flip through the book, looking up the fruits and powers I had encountered so far.

I actually started making a list about halfway through. I materialized a basic light carbon pencil and started scribbling into the desk, starting at the top left corner. When I was done, I had a list of nine fruit and powers. I then rearranged the list by crew, and then by category, but then just settled on order of appearance. As a side note, I marked who had the power. It was nice having a table I could freely mess around with.

But as I was reminiscing, I remembered my fight with Tengen. I remembered how he had punched me in the face, even though I had tried to phase through the punch. I was curious what kind of Devil Fruit could actually negate others, so I started looking.

It was a very frustrating search, seeing as the book was based on you already knowing what you were looking for. All of the powers and types were all a jumbled mess. I could see how Bucky could find this book useful if he found enough of the Fruits, but research seemed next to impossible. I eventually just sighed in frustration and tossed the book onto the desk.

The book fell on its spine and fell open. It was near the back, and I was about to start work on a bookshelf when I noticed what it had fallen to. It wasn't the regular double name, or even a single type. All that it said was '_Haki_', followed by the words 'observation', 'armed', and 'king'. I started to read it when I heard Marci.

"Cymond! Lunch is ready, come up from your cave if you don't want Skull eating your portion!"

"You better not give that fishman any of my food! I'm still not over him spitting on me!" I called up. I slammed the book shut and placed it in one of the drawers in the desk. As a precaution, I sealed the sides to the rest of the desk, and I ran up to the kitchen to the sight of a sushi buffet.

"Where did all the fish come from?" I asked as I sat down and started piling it all onto my plate.

"Skull and Tengen got it." Marci said. "A little bit into making the rice for the stir fry, they came in with a (comparatively) small fish that had jumped on board and had tried to eat Skull."

"I bet you must be delicious. Two fish wanting to eat you in one day." I smiled at Skull.

"It's not funny when you have to explain to everyone why you smell like fish guts." Skull grumbled.

"Yeah," Tengen chuckled. "Skull was already a good portion down by the time I was able to punch the thing. Spit Skull right up and flopped around the deck."

"How did it flop around on the ship and I _didn't_ feel it?" I asked, stopping eating for a second.

"It only hit about two or three times before Skull punched it in the head and collapsed its skull in." Tengen smiled.

"It was pissing me off!" Skull said defensively. "If you could hear the types of things he was saying, you would have wanted to kill him too."

"You can talk to fish?" Gunny asked.

"Some." Skull answered. "Unfortunately, all the ones I can talk to, I just want to kill."

"_Anyways,_" I said, wanting to move off the topic, "how has everything been going? No problems beside the fish?"

"Not so far." Tengen said as he popped a sushi in his mouth. "Course is holding steady and I'm not seeing any signs of bad weather, but that doesn't mean there won't be any."

"The coating's also going along smoothly." Skull said. "It might get a bit thin, but I don't think it's going to be a problem."

"How thin?" I asked, concerned beside Skull's reassurance.

"Total coverage is going to be possible, but air might escape the bubble easier than other coatings."

"Could we get a proper application back at Fishman Island?" Marci asked.

"Sure, I'll even do it for free as a thanks of getting me back." Skull said with a smile.

"Excellent, it's nice to see everything going smoothly for now. But mind filling me in on this bubble?" So for the next few minutes Marci, Gunny, and Skull gave they basic explanation of how we were going to go underwater in a giant bubble. I just sighed from having a lecture come from a simple question. "How long is it going to take to get to Fishman Island you two?"

"Well, we're setting a decent pace, but I have no idea how far we're going." Tengen admitted.

"At this pace, it might take a week or so." Skull said after a moment of thought.

"And I'm sure we're good to sail for a week, right?" I asked, turning to Marci.

"Are you kidding? We could be adrift for a month and still be able to gorge ourselves." Marci replied proudly.

"Good, well, if that's everything, then let's just enjoy our meal and have a nice and relaxing trip." Everyone just stared at me like I was crazy.

"Do you honestly think we're going to be able to relax at all during anytime out of this entire trip?" Tengen asked.

"Nope." I smiled. "But we can have one hell of a time showing nature whose boss."

"Do you honestly think brute strength can overcome everything?" Gunny asked.

"Negative sir, but I expect everyone to be able to handle themselves. You two got here, Skull lives here, and Tengen and I are to gutsy kids. I don't think we'll fail that easily."

"I am _no_t a kid." Tengen grumbled.

"Comparatively we are." I smiled. "But beside that, I think we can do this."

"If you say so captain." Everyone said in unison. I still needed to get used to being called a captain, even if it was in passing.

And like Tengen said, it wasn't easy street when it came to the New World. It seemed almost every ten minutes we were hit with another round of eccentric weather. The gigantic species of the sea constantly trying to eat us didn't help either.

Tengen even had me help him with defending the ship with a constant supply of harpoons. I was happy to know that making something repeatedly didn't draw on me too much, once I knew how it was made and set it, I didn't need to bother with it again. I did get to experiment a lot with the spearheads. As long as they were sharp, Tengen didn't have a problem with throwing.

There was one problem that fell outside the norm, and that was running into another pirate ship.

About halfway through our trip, Gunny was in the crow's nest looking out for any sudden weather changes, when he suddenly called out.

"Pirate ship at 2 o'clock on a direct course!"

"Really?" Tengen and I asked in unison as we were throwing the occasional spear. I was still questioning why we were doing this, but we hadn't had any major problems since the first few attacks, so either it was pointless or working.

"How far are they from us?" I called up.

"Um, I'd say they're about fifteen, maybe thirty minutes away." He called as he was climbing down.

"What's this we hear about pirates?" Skull asked as he and Marci came up from below deck.

"Gunny just spotted some ahead." I reported. "Did you get a look at the flag they were flying?"

"I did, but it wasn't one I had seen before." Gunny admitted. "It was the usual black flag with white skull, but it had big red lips with a weird kind of fluffing around it. Do remember any like that Marci?"

"I don't have the slightest clue."

"But I think Skull does." I said as I saw Skull progressively get a paler shade of green. "Who are they Skull?"

After a gulp, Skull answered. "They're a part of the Big Mom Pirates. And from what you just described Gunny, they're a part of the main faction."

"A pirate group can have factions?" Tengen asked confused.

"Well, more like the main group. Big Mom has a large influence on many pirate groups. She's also currently keeping Fishman Island 'protected' from hostile forces."

"You don't make that sound like a good thing." I said, concerned. "Does she abuse her power and cause worse harm than the fishmen would come across?"

"No, no, she keeps her side of the deal up, but in return, Fishman Island has to mass produce candy monthly enough to satisfy her."

"How much are we talking here?" Tengen asked.

"About ten tons or so." Skull answered.

"_A month?_" All four of us exclaimed in unison.

"How is that even physically possible to eat?" I wondered aloud.

"Maybe the 'big' part of her name is literal?" Tengen took a stab at an answer.

"More on that later." Gunny cut in. "What we need to know is whether or not they're a danger to us." He said as he kept staring at Skull.

"Well, yes and no, depending on how Big Mom is feeling. If she orders her crew for candy, they will get that candy, whether or not they victims have any or not."

"If she's in a good mood and doesn't want any?" Marci asked.

"Then all's good and they should just move on. Simple as that." Skull shrugged.

"So what does a collision course usually entail?" Gunny asked; looking more worried by the second.

"That either means she's curious, or she's not in a good mood." Skull admitted.

"Well, we'll see when they get here, now won't we?" I said. "Until they show up, just keep on course." With that, we broke up and went about our normal tasks. I was quite glad Franky had made the Wandering Timber so low maintenance. If we needed to do half the work that I did with my dad and Grandpa, we would have sunk already.

And as Gunny had predicted, thirty minutes later, the Big Mom Pirates hailed us. The ironic part was that by the time both ships met up, it was hailing heavily, I felt more pellets go through me more than I wanted.

But the Big Mom Pirates were persistent even in this weather. Even with the danger of getting bludgeoned to death by the hail, they still were able to launch hooks onto the Wandering Timber's railing and draw both ships together.

"Well, at least they're being considerate." I grumbled as I kept the sails from ripping themselves off the mast. Tengen, Skull, and I had proven to have tough enough skin to stand the bombardment, so we had been tasked with making sure the ship ran a straight course. This also meant that we were the welcoming party, during the storm.

The pirates that boarded the Wandering Timber had to be a strange sort, because they all seemed to be wearing business suits. Now, I knew of only a few places on Monju that required such dress, and piracy did not match up with that image. And for pirates, they were all wearing sunglasses (in a hail storm) and all serious.

"Where is the captain?" A tall, slender, bald man asked, his voice clearly cutting through the blowing wind. Not so confident that my voice would carry, I just simply raised my hand.

"That just makes this easier." He sighed as he walked over to me, completely ignoring how searing hot it had just become. I let go of the rope I had been securing and wiped my forehead. "A lot easier." The man said as he noticed my reaction to the sudden climate change.

"How can I help you gentlemen?" I asked in all sincerity, starting to feel my throat go dry. Hopefully, things would go back to normal by the time I had to really get talking.

"Now there's something I hadn't heard in a while." The man laughed. "How can you help? Do you know who we are son?"

"If my information isn't wrong, then you're from the Big Mom Pirates."

"Then you should know why we came here then."

"Not a clue." I shrugged. The man looked at me like I was an idiot over his sunglasses.

"You know we represent Big Mom, correct?"

"Yep."

"And you also know that she is one of the four most powerful pirates in the world, correct?"

"Nope." I smiled. "But seeing as how she makes her crew dress, I would just put at the top of a business rather than piracy."

The man just smiled. "But aren't they the same? Business and piracy?"

"Depending on who you're talking to." I smiled back. "Now, honestly, why are you here?"

"A better question is why are _you_ here? No pirate heads _backwards_ in the New World. Especially none who are looking for One Piece."

"There that thing is again, One Piece. But never mind that, the reason why we are currently heading back is because we came across a passenger who wanted to go home."

"Did you tell this man that it was impossible? You can't backtrack to any island in the Grand Line."

"Then you need a better navigator sir." I smiled. "We're currently heading back to Fishman Island to drop off a worker who got ship wrecked."

Now the man was back to being completely serious. "Then we can't part ways without you paying a fee."

"Oh really? And why's that?"

"Because Fishman Island is property of Big Mom, and any blatant travel there must come with a fee."

"Bullshit." Tengen called from the wheel. I had been so intrigued with my conversation that I had completely forgotten to check on the two men who had been helping me man the ship. "As I hear it, all pirates have to go through Fishman Island. If there were a toll for every pirate, you wouldn't have to hold us for one. Besides, Fishman Island isn't Big Mom's anymore. It belongs to the Straw Hats."

"And who are you to tell us about Big Mom's affairs?" A buff man with tanned skin and a mop hairstyle accused Tengen.

"I'm a guy just telling the truth." Tengen said with a smug grin.

"Really? Luffy owns an island?" I asked Tengen, now ignoring Mom's crew. "I knew that idiot was impulsive and greedy, but how did he manage taking over an island?"

"You really got to talk to Skull more Cymond. If you had bothered to stick around, you would have heard the whole story. Simply put, Luffy ate all of Big Mom's candy shipment and claimed Fishman Island as his own."

"You can do that?"

"Luffy can at least." Tengen shrugged.

"And how do you know Straw Hat Luffy captain?" The bald man asked.

"Hm? Oh, I just ran into him on my island and got to know him and his crew well enough that they left me this ship as a thank you present." I said as a simple statement. But I could tell from their subtle reactions that they _really_ didn't like Luffy. Better yet, the longer Tengen and I spoke the deeper their dislike turned to fear.

"So just who are you guys then?" The mop haired man asked.

"Well, we're the Carbon Copy Pirates. And I guess you could also call us a part of the Straw Hat Pirates crew."


	18. Moving On

**Moving On:**

"You sure are presumptuous." The bald man laughed. "Just because you met a pirate doesn't mean you can say you're part of their crew." His men seemed to relax slightly.

"I don't know. We left on some pretty friendly terms, and I'm sure if we asked for their help, they'd come. I know I would steer my ship to get to them. Besides, I don't think their shipbuilder would appreciate one of his own hand crafted ships to go to waste." I smiled. I was completely making up the Straw Hat's reactions, but I was serious about coming to them.

"Look, _kid_, I don't care if you're a friend of the Straw Hat or the successor of Whitebeard, you're not getting past here without paying the toll."

"Fine, say I believe there's a toll, what would it be?" I asked as I crossed my arms.

"Ten bags of candy per person." The bald man said immediately.

"Hm, 490 bags of candy? I don't think we have that much." I said, trying to bluff my crew's size. It didn't work.

"Please, if you had that big of a crew, you as the captain wouldn't be doing any of the work."

"Says who?" I asked. "Never mind, and If I said I wouldn't pay your toll?"

"Either you turn around or we take your ship."

"And I don't like either of those options." I said simply. "I think you're going to leave here without doing anything."

"And why's that?"

"Tengen, setting one." I called up to Tengen at the wheel.

"Ai ai captain." He saluted as he twisted the rung on the wheel. I heard the same whirring as before and felt a large jolt as the paddles broke into Big Mom's ship.

"I think you have some problems to attend to." I smiled. "And I think they need your attention _right now_." I emphasized as I grew my hands to envelop the three men and tossed them back onto their own ship. "Punch it Tengen."

I felt the paddles as they ripped through Big Mom's ship, and by the time we were fully free, I already saw the ship tilting from all the water it was taking in. I sighed in the satisfaction that gave me and looked up at Tengen, who gave a thumb up

"That was reckless and stupid, you know that, right?" Gunny said as he walked on deck.

"I didn't see any better way of getting us out of there. Besides, you know we're not carrying any candy, much less 50 bags." I explained. "And now we're known. At least, a little bit."

"As being a pest?" Gunny questioned.

"Exactly!" I grinned. "And what a better way to get noticed than to have a big name mad at a little one?"

"Since when have we wanted to be known?" Marci asked, wiping her hands on a dishcloth. "If it were me, I would have tried to keep us as ambiguous as possible."

"But what fun is that?" I asked. "I was told to go out and have an adventure. And you can't really have an adventure without having anything to do. So I saw an opportunity to start one."

"By fighting Big Mom?" Gunny asked. "Are you seriously that stupid?"

"It's not like we're going to meet her at Fishman Island or everywhere after that." I shrugged. "Besides, would you two be happy to just roam around sight seeing?"

"Well, not really." Marci admitted. "But it would be nice."

"Could you have at least chosen something less dangerous?" Gunny sighed.

"What, are you afraid of someone called Mom?" Tengen taunted. "Just relax and enjoy the rest of the trip."

"Nice sentiments, but you're going to need more than that to deal with Mom." Skull said as he pulled himself up over the side of the ship. "And Cymond, that last trick? Crazily stupid. Maybe try that when I'm not coating the ship's sides."

"You just chose a bad time to hide." I chuckled.

"I was not hiding!" Skull said defendently. "I was doing my job."

"Uh huh, directly after the Big Mom pirates showed up. Convenient." I smirked.

"There was time to work and I took it. Just like we all should be right now."

"Don't look at me, I am doing my job." Tengen called down.

"Well, crisis averted for now. Adventure to be had, a schedule to keep, and dinner to be made. So chop chop people." I said as I headed into the cabin.

"And what are you going to be doing?" Skull asked.

"Some tinkering for the most part. Studying what I can do and seeing what I can generally find." I waved. Skull didn't seem impressed, but the other three just went about their work.

"Well, don't forget that you're needed to work too." Skull grunted and head over the side of the ship again. I just smiled and headed down.

Sometimes I didn't know what to make of Skull, whether he was a tough guy, a coward, or just witty. He did have a point though, just because I was captain didn't mean I could sit around all day and tinker. But thinking of Skull made me think of the other three.

I had met Gunny at gunpoint, followed by Marci trying to rescue him, to being thrown together with one of my dad's friend's son. It had all been pretty hectic up to this point, not really sitting down and talking. I mostly just had need to know information and interesting stories.

But they were my crew now. And I was the captain responsible for them. I needed to be able to count on them when it counted and listen to them when they were concerned. And I had totally blown it all off. But I had one nagging question repeatedly bugging me.

What if Big Mom had attacked straight out?

I might have put on a goofy face to brush this all off, but I couldn't. Everyone was right to be concerned; I made a really stupid move. There was no alternative, no backup plan, and nothing to bounce back with. Heck, I still wasn't sure how half the ship was laid out, or if it even had a self-defense system to engage.

If I had tried to talk things out, I might have found something else to do, but I just acted rashly. I could have come to an agreement to go, but I attacked instead. And what was I doing throwing the Straw Hat name around? It only labeled an unknown crew as a target for anyone against them. I liked them well enough, but pirates aren't friends with everyone, Big Mom being one of them.

And that's what was agonizing over for the second half of the week as we sailed for Fishman Island. I was continuously trying to figure out how to hold to my bluffs, and when to quit. My torturous thought process was finally interrupted when Skull came pounding on my door.

"Cymond! Come on out, we're here."

"All right already, don't break the door down!" I shouted from my table. I had been trying to figure out any loophole kind of strategies for the Devil Fruits we currently had after thinking what would happen if we were to ever get separated in groups. Not that there was much to do with that thought, but it kept the guilt away.

I opened my door, but Skull was already on his way down the hall. "Well hold on a second Skull!" I called after him.

He turned around a bit confused. "Why? We're just going up top."

"Yeah, but this seems to be one of the few times I get to talk to you alone." I said as I caught up. "Seriously, I only ever see you at meals. Where do you disappear to all day?"

"Mostly over the side of the ship. Coating the bottom is really hard in moving water. It takes a long time to get a bubble set up for coating in these conditions."

"Ah." I said, trying to find something relevant to ask. "So, how has Fishman Island been doing since the Straw Hats came through?"

"Pretty well actually, even with the entire Big Mom incident. Our Princess is finally able to come out of her tower now that her stalker is in jail, so the moral of the island is as high as its been in a long time. In fact, thanks to the Straw Hats, my work place actually exists."

"What, Franky built you a workshop?"

"Oh no, see, there was a slums of a sort near Fishman Island. But thanks to a fiasco involving a giant ship, my primary job is to help fix the thing up."

"So you do fix ships."

"Only with massive amounts of help and guidance. I am nowhere near as good as to fix something like the Wandering Timber with scrap wood. But enough about me, take a look at this." Skull said as he opened the door onto the deck.

The first thing I noticed was the giant wall of rock in front of the ship. I tilted my head back and could barely see the top of it. "Skull, please don't tell me _that's_ supposed to be an island."

Skull just burst out laughing. "Ha! No, no, that's the Red Line. You do know it right?"

"Um." I said, scratching my head. "If I remember right, it's a ring of land that stretches around the entire world. Right?"

"Finally, something you do know." Skull chuckled. "And do you see the large building all the way up there?" He said as he pointed. I squinted my eyes and I could barely make out a dome.

"I think so, why?"

"Because we're going directly underneath it." Skull said as his finger drew a line from the building to the bottom of the wall.

"So, how far under water is Fishman Island again?" I asked, a bit nervous about the fact of going under such a wall.

"Um, I think the last time anybody bothered to check, it was about 9,000 meters or so?" Skull said, thinking hard. "Aw, but don't worry, we can make it." He smiled as he clapped me on the back. "Hopefully"

"What was that?" I eyed Skull.

"What was what?" He asked innocently. "Now come on, everyone is waiting to go. It may not look it, but we can be spotted even from up there." Skull said as he pulled me up to the top deck.

The plants were coming along nicely for a week out in the harsh weather. Most of it was thanks to Marci's constant attention and care, but it turns out New World plants aren't wimps. As soon as the climate changed, they reacted to protect themselves. They may have grown on a stable island, but they were damn resilient.

Tengen, Gunny, and Marci were all sitting and enjoying some of the grapes that were ready when Tengen spotted Skull and I. "Hey, here comes the tardy captain." He informed the other two.

"Well finally." Gunny said as he got up. "I didn't like this the first time, we might as well get this over with fast."

"That was just a shoddy job. I'm sure Skull can make this one better." Marci chided. "Right Skull?"

"I can't say smooth, but it will do until we get down there. Now, shall we get going?"

"Sure, so how are we doing this?" I asked.

"Well, if you will look overboard for a second." Skull said as he waved us over. We went and saw multiple bubbles lining the bottom of the ship. "That's how we've been afloat for the last several days. And if Cymond would pop one of the bubbles, we can be off."

"All right then." I said as I materialized a small knife. I dropped it point down to pop the bubble, but it just seemed to bounce off it.

"Oh come on, these bubbles are holding up a ship, do you think a small knife will pop it?" Skull jibbed me.

"All right, fine, how's this?" I said as I materialized a basic spear.

"That will depend." Skull smirked.

"Gunny, take the shot." I said as I handed the spear over.

"Fine." Gunny sighed as he took the spear. He looked overboard and tossed it. I heard a loud SNAP and the sound of air rushing. But instead of feeling any sort of wind, I instead started to get lifted off of my feet.

"Don't worry, just stomp your feet and you'll be fine." Skull said as the bubble that was rapidly rising over the deck moved around him. The four of us stamped our feet and all fell to the deck.

"And why did we just do that?" I asked angrily as I got up.

"That was to make us to start going down." Skull grinned. "Just take a look." He waved. Sure enough, water was already rushing around us. In just a few seconds, the water closed above us. "Welcome to my world."


	19. Valid Questions

**Valid Questions:**

"Well that's just _great_ Skull." Tengen rolled his eyes. "Now that we're in 'your world', mind telling me how to pilot a boat in three dimensions?"

"Oh don't worry about that. The current will do most of the work. You'll just have to make sure that the boat doesn't leave it. Otherwise, we'll be drifting around until we hit the bottom."

"Gee, that's an encouraging thought." I said dourly. "Did you happen to notice three of us can't swim, period? And I doubt Tengen could stand the pressure of the sea water."

"And don't forget about the limited air supply." Marci pointed out.

"We have what now?"

"Yeah," Gunny said hesitantly as he scratched his head. "The last time we made this trip, we nearly ran out of air. Nearly the entire crew had to stay below deck because the air bubble was so tight against the deck."

"And how long was that trip?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"Well, there was about a crew of 50, but it lasted for about a week." Marci confirmed.

"Well, we have a crew a tenth that size, so I guess we could make it easily." I sighed. "Now Skull, seeing as this is your area of expertise, can we expect anything …unpleasant?"

"Well, now that you mention it…" Skull began, but was cut off by the sudden tilting of the entire boat. We all fell to the floor, with me going through it. When I rematerialized back on the deck, Tengen was gone and the other three were standing hesitantly. "The current _is_ a bit rough."

"A _BIT?"_ I heard Tengen call from the wheel. "Sure Tengen, don't worry about _steering_, the_ current_ will do it. Did it occur to you that the current is around the entire boat?!"

"Well, there is that part, and…" Skull said hesitantly.

"And what?" I asked, exasperated.

"And the underwater waterfall." Gunny said, looking toward the bow. I turned and saw blackness, not surprising. But with a bit more focus, I could see that the current was taking a sharp turn down. And by 'see', I meant the absolute blackness next to the blue water.

"You've gotta be kidding me." I groaned.

"Hold onto your shorts!" Tengen called. I immediately rooted my feet into the deck and gathered the other three into a bear hug. A good thing too, because not a second later, I felt my feet lurch ahead of me and it took all of my focus to hold myself to the boat, hold my crew against me, and stay together. Tengen was on his own.

When everything seemed to settle down, I unwrapped and lied down. So many simultaneous uses of my power was a bit exhausting. I really needed to learn how to use my shape shifting for more endurance.

"Cymond?" Gunny asked as he stood over me.

"Yeah? What do you want Gunny?" I asked as I raised my head a little.

"You do know we have a bath on the ship, right?"

"Go get to work." I huffed as I flopped my head back down.

"But isn't this a bit fast?" Marci asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked, rolling my head to look at her.

"Well, the waterfall shouldn't have happened until we were nearly halfway to the bottom."

"And?"

"And we've bee sinking for all of about five minutes. Do you see a problem with going 4,500 meters straight down in that amount of time?"

"Now that you mention _that_." I said as I stood up. "Skull, mind explaining?"

"Well, we are just going straight down anyways, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal? How much pressure is being put on this protective bubble of ours per second?" I asked.

"I don't know, is there a problem?"

"Yes there's a problem! If you put to much pressure on something at once, it's going to break!" I shouted.

"Aw, you're just underestimating the durability of a Sabaody Bubble."

"I don't even know what that thing is!" I exclaimed. "For all I know, I've just condemned everyone on this boat to death, again!" I grabbed Skull by his vest and stared at him. He didn't seem to react.

"What do you mean again?" Marci asked, but I ignored her.

"I did this because we had nothing better to do, and now I learn that you coated my ship in something that will plummet us straight to the bottom of the ocean!"

"Well, not straight down, it'll bottom out eventually." Skull said.

"And when would that be?" I asked as the ship jerked again.

"About now." Skull smiled.

I walked over to the edge of the boat to see what little I could see outside the boat. True enough, we weren't on the bottom of the sea, but we were sure down here. I grabbed the railing and sighed deeply.

"How long until we reach Fishman Island?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Well, we were pretty near the Red Line, so maybe half an hour or so?" Skull said.

"Great, then I'm heading down for a bath." I said as I started to disintegrate through the deck. "Someone get me when we get there."

"Wait Cymond! I want to-" Marci called, but I already was in the deck below. I really needed to cool my head. I had just blown a gasket for no reason. I should have trusted Skull on his judgment. But my own self-doubt was getting to me. I really just needed to relax.

I wandered around until I found the room labeled 'bath' thanks to Gunny, who had made it his job to label all of the rooms. I opened it to find just a small wash line on the right and a fair sized tub in the back. I tested the line, and thankfully it was fresh water. I don't know how Franky had done it, but it seemed like we had an unending flow of fresh water on the Wandering Timber.

I filled up the tub and took the preparations before getting in. I didn't know what to think anymore. Here I thought it would just be a simple jaunt, get Skull home, have some adventures, and have an all around good time. But what was the point? You can't have an adventure without a plan, and lord knows I don't have one.

And what was with everyone agreeing that I was captain? As far as I was concerned, Gunny would make a better captain than I would. Hell, Tengen could take it and be better off. What was I? I was a simple fisher boy who was practically kicked into the real world. As I just sat there wallowing, I heard a knock at the door.

"What?" I called out in a flat voice.

"I'm going to need to talk to ya." I heard Skull say. "I'll be down in front of your room. The faster the better." And with that, there was nothing more. I just took another sigh and got out of the tub. One of the upsides to having something like the Carbon-Carbon power, a simple shifting and I was perfectly dry and clothed. I left the bath and went down to my room. Sure enough, Skull was waiting.

"I guess this is private?" I asked. Skull didn't react. I opened the door and walked in. I then noticed just how sparse the space still was. Taking a minute, I made another rigid chair for Skull to sit in as I took the one at the desk. "So, what's up?"

"You know what." Skull said as he took his seat.

"In honesty, I don't." I replied. "Mind telling me?"

"What was with the way you acted up on deck?" Skull asked.

"It was a moment." I admitted. "But I don't think that has anything to do with me."

"You don't?" Skull raised an eyebrow.

"No, you didn't tell us exactly what you were doing, you knew I didn't know what this bubble would do in the first place, and you even made Marci panic." I stated.

"And that was Marci." Skull shot at me. "Marci was confused, and you just made it worse by blowing up and then leaving. That's not what a good captain does."

"And who says I'm a good captain?" I shot back. "For all I care, Gunny could be captain!"

"And he's doing a better job at it!" Skull cut me off. "Right now, Gunny is up on deck, comforting Marci and making sure Tengen keeps us on course. And what did you do? You went off to take a bath. You're acting just like a petulant child."

"And what says I'm not?" I shot up from my seat. "Do you know how long I've been a captain? _A week!_ A _single_ week. For as long as you have been on this ship, I have been a captain. You wanna know what I did before any of this? I was fisherman with my dad and Grandpa. I don't know what I'm doing here, hell; I don't know why those three even _want_ to follow me! All I really know is that _you're_ here for a ride home! So tell me Skull, do _you_ think I should be captain? Because I sure s hell don't!"

Skull just looked at me for a second, and then sighed. "When you put it like that, I can't seem to blame you." Skull scratched his head. "But, you have got to admit to yourself, they did follow you onto this boat for a reason."

"Yeah, by beating them for it." I snorted as I sat back down.

"Oh?" Skull asked, actually seeming curious.

"Yeah." I smiled a little. "It actually began a little bit after getting my powers. I went to the local bookstore…" And I began to reminisce on how I met each of the three up top. I even laughed at how ridiculous some of it actually was. All the while, Skull just sat there and listened. By the time I got to leaving the island, I felt a lot more relaxed.

"You know Cymond, the way you make it sound, it sounds like you care for them." Skull finally commented.

"Well, I really don't know all that much about them, so I don't really-"

"Who says you have to?" Skull cut me off. "So what if you don't know their entire back-story? All that matters is that you like them for who they are now. Just take that into consideration and just lead on."

"But you said it yourself that I'm just a 'petulant child'." I pointed out, a bit confused. "Why such the big switch?"

"Because you admitted you are!" Skull smiled. "Any man who can admit his faults is a man ready to take a step forward. Here's one to learn," Skull said as he patted me on the shoulder. "Stop doubting yourself so much. Learn from your mistakes and listen to your crew. You'll get through this a lot easier that way than just sulking."

"I guess you're right Skull." I sighed. I stood up and looked around the room. "Say Skull?"

"What?"

"What would you say this room needs? It feels kind of, you know, bland."

Skull just burst out laughing. "I don't know!" He managed to get out. "But is that really the first thing you think of after brooding?"

"Hey, you said to get over it. Really, remember what you say. Now seriously, what does this room need? I mean, I don't need to live here, but a private, relaxing space would be nice."

"Well, if you want relaxing, how about a different color than black?" Skull asked. "Because a full room of black would just be depressing."

"So sue me, I can't make colored constructs. It's not my fault I've only had my powers for little over a week."

"Then how come your clothes always seem to come out the same?"

"That's…that's a very good question." I said as I examined my attire. Sure, you couldn't call it colorful, but it wasn't black either. "They're always on my body when I deconstruct and reconstruct. I never really questioned it."

"Well, just think about it for a bit while you're on Fishman Island. It'll take a bit for your compass to readjust, but it should otherwise be a pleasant enough stay."

"I guess I could. It's not like we're going to be doing much while we're-"

Suddenly there was a huge lurch and both of us fell to the floor.

"Don't tell me there's _another_ waterfall." I glared at Skull.

"No, no, there's only the one. But I think I might know what it is." Skull said as he stood and left the room. I followed after him up to the deck. When I got there, I saw a giant tentacle wrapping around the bubble of the ship.

"What are we dealing with?" I called over to Tengen, who seemed to be struggling to free the ship from the wheel.

"Cymond! I have no idea! One second we were cruising along soundly, the next, this thing pops up."

"I figured as much." Skull sighed. "One moment, I'll be right back." And with that, Skull ran to the side of the ship and jumped out of the bubble.


End file.
